Camp Rock II: Payback
by Ekkah
Summary: Camp Rock: A sequel which attempts to explain the inconsistancies of the first such as guitars... with no cables. It's the year after the film and Shane has dragged the rest of his band to the renamed Camp Pop. Nate, however, is acting very strangely. N/C
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to Camp Pop. If you are a real hardcore Camp Rock fan then do not read this fic. Walk away now.

If, like me, you watched it because it's kind of addictive and it very entertaining and useful for making jokes involving magic guitars, singing solos in harmony and the breathing of helium, read on.

Full blurb here because it didn't fit:

_Camp Rock: A parody. Finding where the film wasn't quite realistic (Magic, cord-less guitars?) and giving an explanation: Magic helium._

_Set the year after the film and Shane has dragged the rest of Connect 3 out to Camp as instructors. A fact which isn't making Nate happy since he's having enough problems with nerves as it is. Perhaps all he needs is a little magic and Caitlin Geller, breather of magic helium could be the girl of his dreams. If he can stop sulking long enough to find her._

_Nate/ Caitlin._

One

"I don't see why we all had to come," Nate pointed out, watching Shane leaning his head against the window as though he couldn't wait for them to arrive. "I mean, your uncle had you doing hip-hop dance classes last year. I _don't_ dance. No way."

Shane turned from the window for the first time and turned to Nate, a bright smile on his lips. "Hey, man," he replied innocently. "We used to love this place. This is where Connect 3, connected."

Nate fought the urge to grind his teeth as Jason looked up. "Hey, that's right," he said, as though he'd completely forgotten Shane was only repeating what he'd said the year before. "Isn't that right, Nate?"

"Plus," Shane continued, fixing Nate with that 'payback' grin. "You get to see my uncle Brown."

"Your uncle Brown's a psycho!" Nate shouted angrily. "And he treats me like I'm all of three years old."

"Look, Nate." Shane leant forwards to regard Nate seriously. "Right now you're the weirdo to the press. That's three gigs you've totally psyched out on not even counting the time you leapt off the stage and broke your nose."

"I was trying to crowdsurf," Nate muttered, looking away uncomfortably.

"Nate, the stage was three meters away from the crowd. The label has a problem with this which means, we have a problem with it."

"Actually," Jason started but stopped when Nate and Shane both turned to glare at him.

"The label doesn't care what I do," Nate said, turning back to Shane. "You're just dragging us out here because you want to see your girlfriend."

"Does it matter?" Shane leant back, leaning out the window again as they pulled up in the Camp which had been renamed Camp Pop after serious complaints the year before. "It's good PR, Nate, so do your time." He reached for the clasp of the door, his smile growing wider. "Enjoy the fresh air." Nate clenched his fists as Shane's smile grew wider. "Get a _tan._"

"I'm making a guitar/birdhouse combo," Jason informed them all, apparently able to completely ignore the testosterone levels in the car. "I'm going to call it... the Guiturd."

Shane was already getting up, pushing open the door. "One word," he said to Nate, his grin unquenchable. "Payback." Then he was out of the car and heading down the road, already calling the names of people he knew. Nate let out a snarl of annoyance, falling back against his seat.

"Or maybe the Birtar," Jason continued, oblivious to everything else. "Or the Guiturd House. Or the Bird Hotar. The Electric house of Bird."

"Jason," said Nate through gritted teeth, snatching Jason's acoustic guitar off the seat and twisting the dials until the strings were loose. "Bird," he said, raising one hand and making beak movements. He then pushed it through the strings and into the guitar. "Birdhouse. Just like magic."

"Wow." Jason took his guitar back reverently, pushing the strings to the side to see the hole more clearly. "Wow."

Nate let out a snarl of frustration and pushed open the car door, snatching his own guitar and climbing out onto the road behind. "Knock yourself out," he called back to Jason before turning away and surveying the camp. "Please," he added grimly.

"It's him! It's Nate Grey!"

Nate turning in time to see eight girls pointing and him and screaming at the top of their lungs. He glanced up the driveway quickly but Shane had already disappeared and inside the car Jason was still pushing his hand into his guitar then pulling it out in awe. Nate could just hear through the open door. "I had a birdhouse... _all along!"_

"Um," he managed, turning back to the girls who had managed to get a lot closer in the last few minutes. "Hi."

When Jason got out the car several minutes later and leant his guiturd house against a tree, whistling in case there were any birds around to go into it, he was distracted by a pile of flailing limbs where Nate had been a few minutes ago.

"Nate?" he called uncertainly. It looked rather like a pile of female bodies and kept shouting things like. 'I have his top!' 'Can I have your autograph?'

"Nate?" Jason called again, taking a step closer.

"Help me!" Jason looked down to see Nate pull himself partway out of the pile then be dragged back by hands with luridly painted nails. Jason crouched down, peering into the pile carefully. After a few moments he caught sight of his brother again.

"How?" he asked, while Nate's face was still in sight.

"Use your imagination!" The face disappeared against with a cry. Jason tilted his head to the side for a moment, regarding the pile thoughtfully.

Then he got up and went to find Shane. On the way, he got distracted by a large aquariam. "Wow," he said, watching a gold fish swimming backwards and forwards in front of him. "I want one of those."

He watched the fish for several more moments when something else occurred to him. "I want one of those _inside_ my guiturd house. It would be like... like an aquiturd house... that would just be cool."

"Is there anything else," Nate asked in as loud a croak as his hoarse, exhausted voice would let him. "That you would like me to sign before I fall unconscious?"

The final hanger-on eyed him for a moment as though wondering how likely this was then shrugged. He had already signed her back, her front, her top , her trousers and narrowly avoided having to sign her underwear. What more could she ask for?

"I suppose not," she replied reluctantly. "Do you want to go for a canoe ride?"

"No." Nate replied firmly, limping past her and letting the marker pen fall out of his hand in the process. He ached _all over._ He had just spent at least an _hour_ signing autographs for this group even after one of them had walked off with his top. He'd _liked_ that top and now he was never going to see it again. He had bruises all over his body and his wrist was aching from scrawling his name on anything and everything. What was so good about him, anyway? Jason's damn guitar was still leaning against a tree where he'd left it, the strings pull back in case any bird was idiotic enough to mistake a guitar for a bird house. Nate kicked it over on his way past. Naturally, this would be the moment Jason returned, hours too late, followed by Shane and Mitchie who were talking and laughing like they'd met more than a grand total of _once_ before.

"You kicked over my Guiturd house!" Jason shouted, running forwards to pick up the guitar and peer inside.

"On no," Nate replied coldly. "Now all the guiturds will have nowhere to live." He stalked past Jason who looked around, possibly surprised by the level of animosity.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Or possibly not... "I mean, I was thinking that it was kind of hot but not hot enough to take my shirt off yet."

"My shirt," Nate replied coldly, continuing to walk away. "Got stolen."

"Really? By who?"

Nate stopped, taking a deep breath before turning on his heel to glare daggers at Jason and wish fiercely that just for this moment looks could kill. "My shirt was stolen by the girls that you were supposed to be helping me get away from. Remember, big pile of people? Me underneath, asking you to help me."

For a moment Jason just stared at him uncomprehending, then something dawned. "Oh," he said loudly. "I _remember_! _That_ was why I was going to find Shane. Then I got distracted by the aquarium. Hey, Nate, don't you think an Aquiturd House would be completely awesome? Shane doesn't think it can be done but Mitchie promised to help." Nate was already walking away, pushing roughly between Shane and Mitchie as he stalked over to the collection of buildings.

"Nate!" Shane called after him. "Nate, don't be like that."

Nate turned, raising two fingers in a gesture their mum would've scolded him greatly for using. "Two hours!" he shouted before turning back and continuing to storm away.

Shane watched his brother until Nate was out of sight then sighed. "He hasn't been the same lately," he said, mostly for Mitchie's benefit. "He got into songwriting in a big way after our finale last year and started a solo tour. There was some gig part-way through, Jason and I weren't there because we had to be at an interview, and something went wrong. The whole rest of the tour got cancelled and he hasn't been the same since."

"What happened?" Mitchie asked, looking over at where Nate had dissapeared.

"Dunno," Shane replied. "He won't talk about it. I was kind of hoping the camp would open him up a bit, maybe help him settle. I mean, it definately changed me."

"Shane."

They bother looked around to see Jason holding his guitar and peering into the hole thoughtfully. "Yes," Shane replied slowly.

"Do birds eat fish?"

He'd had to ask for directions three times. _Three times!_ How big could one camp be? But eventually he'd reached the cabin where he'd be staying for the rest of the summer.

The cabin . God, there was no way around it, was there. He was on Camp. Living in a cabin in a _field._ He hadn't been on summer camp since he was, like, _twelve._ It had been one thing sending Shane here last year, he'd just assumed it was a one-off and would never happen again.

He pushed open the door and was confronted by another unwelcome surprise. He could distinctly remember Shane telling him that last year he'd had a private cabin. Private.

So why did Nate's cabin have two beds, and why did the second one have, of all people, _Jason's_ stuff piled on top of it. "No," he said slowly even though the bright green guitar covered with stickers of Elmo and Big Bird from, of all things, Sesame Street was hard to ignore. "No. No way. I am _not_ sharing a room with Jason."

"Sorry, Nate-Mate." Next thing Nate knew there was a hand ruffling through his hair. That meant this could only be one person. Only one person in the whole _world_ could be more annoying than Jacob.

"Hello Uncle," he replied stiffly, ducking out from under his hand and turning to face him.

Was it possible that there was _someone_ in this camp who wasn't smiling that stupid idiotic smile all the time? "Oh come on, Natey, haven't you got a hug your your Uncle Brownie?"

"Sorry," Nate replied coldly. "I used them all up on Aunty Flapjack." He walked over to the bed that didn't have Jason's things on it and tore open his suitcase, pushing aside plectrums, tuners and sheet music until he located clothing. He pushed through the clothes, trying to find something in a halfway decent colour.

"What happened to your top, Nate-Mate?" Uncle Brown continued with the endurance of... of something with a lot of endurance. Possibly Jason.

"Got stolen," Nate replied, trying to ignore the humiliating nicknames for the moment.

"By who?"

"You know, funnily enough what with all the leaping and tearing I didn't get her name." Nate eventually found a plain black t-shirt that would hopefully be harder to get off than a shirt with buttons. He pulled it over his head, wincing as it brushed against his soon-to-be bruises. "Next time, I'll get her details for you."

"Natey..."

Okay, he was all out on the nickname enduring front. No one but Uncle Brown had called him anything other than 'Nate' since he turned ten. "Oh, and Uncle Brown, I had my sixteenth birthday last weekend."

"I sent a card..." he said in a tone that said 'have you finally lost your mind?'

"Yes. So you can stop treating me like a twelve year old." He wasn't sure where he was going he just knew he didn't want to be cooped up inside.

Except, outside was where the fangirls were and he'd already broken his nose once in his life. He crossed to Jason's bed and upended the other boy's bag, pushing through the toys, DVDs and games consoles until he found a bright blue hoodie for some band no one but Jason had ever heard of.

He pulled it on, carefully arranging the hood so it cast his face into shadow. "And why am _I_ sharing a room with Jason anyway?" he demanded, spinning around at the door.

Uncle Brown just stared at him for a few moments then shook himself and regained some composure. "I... there weren't enough rooms, Nate-M... Nate. When we talked to Shane yesterday he said you'd be fine sharing."

"Shane." Nate kicked the door only to find that the catch had caught when Uncle Brown had entered so all this did was hurt his toe. Growling, he reached out and knocked the catch, pushing through the door with as much force as she could muster. "Everything's always about _him._"

The door slammed shut very satisfyingly behind him and he stormed off across the camp.

"Mitchie," Caitlin hissed from her hiding place behind a tree. "Mitchie."

Mitchie muttered something to Shane then moved away, watching until he'd dissapeared before circling the tree to stand in front of Caitlin. Who was crouched on the floor, occasionally glancing out to check no one was looking. "What's all this about?" Mitchie asked, crouching opposite her. "You weren't there when everyone was being dropped off, me and Shane were looking out for you."

"Shh," Caitlin hissed, waving her arms slightly. "This is secret, very secret. You can't tell _anyone._"

"Caitlin, you're behind a _tree. _You're behind a tree just off the main pathway."

"Fine," Caitlin hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her up. "We'll go somewhere more private then." She dragged Mitchie through the trees until the sounds of camp had faded away behind them and Mitchie yanked her arm away pulling to a stop.

"Okay, Caitlin, spill it."

"You might not believe me," Caitlin opened. "But I swear I'm telling the truth. I _know_ it doesn't sound possible or even halfway likely but-"

"Caitlin, just tell me. I'm your best friend, of course I'll believe you."

Caitlin bit her lip for a moment then took a deep breath. "Okay," she said slowly. "Okay, well here's the thing. See... I can breathe helium."

For a moment they just stared at each other. Then Mitchie burst out laughing. "Right," she said disbelievingly. "Of course, Caitlin. You can _breathe_ helium." She laughed. "Yeah, and Nate's guitar is _magic._ Come on, what did you really want to tell me?"

"That was it," Caitlin protested. "I can breathe helium, I swear."

"Okay, Caitlin, remember when I said of course I'd believe you..."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"No one can breathe helium."

"What about the balloons, at the party last year. They flew, Caitlin. I blew into them and then they flew up into the air. We had to tie them down we just didn't think about it. We thought 'they're balloons, balloon's fly.' Except they _don't._ Not without helium."

"Caitlin, I have no idea what you're talking about but I can assure you that you can't breathe helium."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"You're deluded!"

Caitlin bit her lip, trying to keep herself together. _Should've known,_ she thought bitterly, pushing Mitchie out of the way so she could run off through the trees. Her best friend hadn't beliebe her, her _best _friend hadn't even bothered to entertain the possibility that maybe... just maybe the world wasn't how Mitchie Torres believed it to be. _Should've known. I mean, is it so hard to believe? I mean, Tess was nice to me earlier. Now that's the kind of thing that's impossible. Compared to that, breathing helium is like..._

She sighed, and slumped down between the roots of a tree, unable to come up with an accurate comparison. Her head dropped against her legs and for a moment there was nothing but her breathing. A bird landed on the ground in front of her and she looked at it.

It whistled softly. Caitlin sighed, opening her mouth to tell it to go away. The voice that emerged was at least three octaves higher that her own. "Get lost." The bird let out a cry and flew away looking, if possible, very surprised. Caitlin coughed roughly. _Not now,_ she thought irritably, as though this might make it go away.

"Wow, Caitlin."

Caitlin looked up to see Mitchie watching her. "You can get lost too," she retorted, her voice still horrible and high. She whacked a hand against her chest roughly, in the hope that it would dislodge whatever magic powers she had. After coughing again she looked up to see Mitchie still watching her. "Well?" she snapped, relieved to find her normal voice was back again. "What do you want?"

"You were telling the truth."

"Finally, it dawns on her. It's nice to know you think I'd lie to you. We don't all lie to our friends, Mitchie." Still feeling annoyed about the whole thing she added. "How's Hot Tunes these days?"

Mitchie sighed and sat down opposite her. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "But, I mean, you have to admit it's hard to believe."

"More like impossible," Caitlin agreed with an apologetic smile. "I spent, like, six months denying it to myself before I thought. 'Okay, I can breathe helium. I guess that's cool.'"

Mitchie smiled back. "I guess it is," she agreed. "And it's not all that unbelievable really, is it. It's probably something really weird biologically. It's not like its _magic_ helium."

"Ah." Caitlin bit her lip, finding herself looking anywhere except into Mitchie's eyes. "Yeah, Mitchie... um, about that whole 'not magic helium' thing..."


	2. Chapter 2

_hi again. (: I'd just like to say that I am in no way to blame for this fic. It is entirely the fault of Ele (who will get a cameo later) for being online and encouraging me and it's also the fault of all my other friends for not being online to yell 'don't you dare!!'_

_So, we have another chapter and until i can work out how to get pictures on here I'm going to have to put names in so you know what character I'm talking about._

_Please R&R (:_

_Ekkah_

Two

Mitchie

Mitchie tapped her fingers against her legs, trying not to look at Caitlin. She still felt guilty about not believing Caitlin could breathe helium and her guilt would only grow if she didn't believe the rest of her friend's revelations.

Still... "So you can breathe magic helium?" she confirmed slowly. "And this isn't all just an elaborate set-up so you can tell me how gullible I am."

"I can," Caitlin confirmed again. "And it's not, promise."

"Magic helium," Mitchie repeated in case it sounded any saner the second time. "That can make guitars work without amps and gives people the ability to sing in harmony without a backing singer."

"Yes."

"Okay... How did you come up with this?"

Caitlin brightened up now it seemed Mitchie was believing her. "Basically, remember when Connect 3 played last year? Well I noticed at the time that their guitars had no wires and my voice was really high and my through felt funny. When I talked to Brown later he just said that Connect 3 had sorted it all." She said this triumphantly. Mitchie tilted her head to the side.

"Which means?" she prompted.

"Don't you ever _speak_ to your boyfriend?" Caitlin sighed. "I talked to Shane over the summer. Well... he called me to ask what kind of music you liked and if you liked chocolates and which flowers you liked and, you get the picture. Anyway, once I'd told him everything I knew and reminded him that I'd only known him as long as he had I turned the conversation to that gig and asked about the guitars. He just said he assumed Brown had set up some glitzy new system."

"And you think that that was you?"

"You don't have to talk slowly all the time, Mitchie. I'm not crazy. Look, if you like we can head back to camp, find an electric guitar and I'll _show_ you. I can control it better now... I think."

Mitchie bit her lip for a moment. There was a chance, however slim, that she could be about to witness something that was thought to be impossible.

On the other hand, there was the slightly larger chance that Caitlin wasn't _quite_ in full ownership of all her mental facilities and Mitchie didn't want to have to play the friend if that was the case.

Still, on a (possibly magic helium related) third hand, Caitlin was already standing up and with an expression of such enthusiasm on her face that Mitchie didn't want to disappoint her. She sighed and worked her way up into a smile. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's go see the magic guitar."

Nate

"It's been _three hours,_ Shane!" Nate bashed a fist against Shane's door again. "And I spent most of it under a pile of girls. I have_ showered _in cold water and it was disgusting. I have stormed out of every camp building, signed what feels like every girl in the area and I _know_ you have hair gel hidden in there _somewhere._"

The door opened long enough to reveal Shane's Cheshire cat grin. "I guess it's time to embrace the _natural_ look," he replied smoothly. "Have fun."

The door closed behind him leaving Nate to kick it fiercely and yell. "Sixty girls isn't natural, Shane!" He stood there for another few minutes then kicked the door again, hard, and whirled around.

"Are you Nate Grey?" A small girl with large, brown doe eyes was looking up at him, clutching an autograph book to her chest.

If it had been any other day and he had been in any other mood he would've smiled at her and signed the book. As it was, he walked up to her and crouched slightly to her eye level. "What is on my top?"

She peered down to read it, as though this was some kind of test. "Elmo," she replied after a moment.

Nate nodded. "And do you think _Nate Grey_ would be seen dead in a bright blue hoodie with a picture of Elmo from _Sesame Street_ on the front?"

"I..."

"Apply a _small_ amount of logic and I think we can come to the conclusion that I'm definitely _not_ Nate Grey."

The girl tilted her head to the side, apparently thinking hard. "You _look_ like Nate Grey," she pointed out perfectly validly.

"Look, if you want a pop star the key code to Shane's door is 48485."

"Shane's taken," the girl said, smiling brightly while Nate tried to encompass the fact that a girl who couldn't be more than _twelve_ liked _him_ more than Shane because Shane had a girlfriend.

"Well Nate wouldn't look twice at someone like you," he snapped, unnecessarily harshly and stormed past her, pulling up the hood of his jumper and trying to ignore the pang of guilt as she burst into tears behind him.

Shane

Laughing softly, Shane turned away from the door and picked up the letter Uncle Brown had left, scanning through it until his eyes fell on the paragraph partway down.

_Would you mind telling both your brothers that I would like you all to come to a meeting in my cabin at noon to discuss the timetable arrangements? I think I've covered all the requests you passed across to me-_

Shane laughed softly again.

_-And I want to make sure you all know what you're doing._

_It's good to have you back at camp, Shane._

_-Uncle Brown_

Except now he needed Nate back, even if telling his brother anything at the moment might not be a _brilliant _idea. He walked to the door and pushed it open, in the distance he could see a whirl of blue as Nate disappeared. In the foreground, however, a girl of about twelve was clutching a book and crying.

_Nate,_ he thought grimly. _Nate, what did you just do?_

He went up to her. "Hi," he tried, brightly. "What's your name?"

"Beccy Turner," she replied, managing to sound upset and overbearing at the same time. "My mom is Angela Turner, I bet you've heard of her."

"She's pretty cool," Shane agreed. "I met her at an awards gala once, she's nice." He broke off, glancing up to where Nate had disappeared. "Um, look, I just wanted to apologise for whatever my idiot of a lead guitarist said."

"So he _was_ Nate. I knew it!"

"Um..." Shane glanced over her shoulder again, trying to work out where Nate would've gone. "Yeah, who else would he have been?"

"So what're you going to do to make it up to me?"

"I..." Shane bit his lip, if he got sidetracked for too long then Nate would be completely unfindable. He ducked down, wrapped the girl in an only very slightly distracted hug then pulled her autograph book out and signed it quickly. "Enjoy the Camp," he urged before running past her to the T-junction where Nate had disappeared.

He glanced from side to side, searching for his brother in the distance. He couldn't see Nate but he could see a blonde girl looking very put out.

_Nathan..._

Nate

"Hi."

Nate turned, fists clenched to see a girl around his height in a deep blue top and decorated with numerous necklaces, bracelets, rings and everything else than Shane would push under the heading 'bling.' "Hey," he replied roughly, moving to pass her.

She immediately moved to block his path, tossing perfectly combed blonde hair back over one shoulder. "You're Shane's brother, aren't you?"

"Not interested." He moved to pass her again but she continued to block him.

"We were like, _totally_ the _best _of friends last year." She held out an elaborately jewelled hand. "I'm Tess Tyler. My mom's T.J. Tyler, she's currently touring in Switzerland but I'm _sure_ you've heard of her. Yeah, I'm her daughter but I don't like to bra-"

"I'm Nate Grey," Nate interrupted roughly, pushing back his hood briefly. "And if you're such good friends with my brother, go bug him." He tried to move again.

"Do you like my bracelet? Every time my mum wins a grammy she-"

Nate snarled and just pushed past her, knocking her out the way. "I'm Nate Grey," he snapped, pulling his hood up again. "If _you _ever win a Grammy, let me know. Or, even better, don't."

Shane

"Tess!" Shane called, running over to her. "Hey, how's it going?" He supposed he had to be nice to her now seeing as she was one of Mitchie's friends. Plus, she was a good contact and she wasn't exactly a bad singer. Just annoying.

"Perfect," she retorted, rather harshly for someone who was perfect. "Except for your arrogant jerk of a brother. Could you find him and tell him he's a complete – "

"On it." If he looked really hard he could see Jason's bright blue jumper disappearing around a corner in the distance. "See you around."

She made a noise which sounded something like 'pshaw' and stepped aside so he could run after Nate again. "Nate!" he shouted, speeding up in an attempt to catch up with his brother. "Nate, get back here!"

Nate

Nate turned on his heel and Shane almost ran into him, drawing to a stop and panting, hands on his knees. Nate watched him for a few moments they pushed the hood of his jumper back. "Fine," he snapped. "This had better be good."

"Uncle Brown wants to see us." Shane broke off to look at his watch. "Five minutes ago."

Nate turned away. "Not good enough." That was all it took for Shane to grab his arm.

"Nate, come on." Then he was being pulled through the camp, his free arm pulling at the hood of Jason's stupid jumper while Shane played the big brother and gave him a settling in speech. "I know it's weird and everything but I had to go through it all last year and it made me a better person."

_Unlike you,_ Nate thought, giving up on the resistance and just letting Shane drag him through the streets to Uncle Brown's cabin. _I wasn't a bad person to start with. I have to say, this _really _isn't helping with_ my _problem. _A few heads turned but Nate just glared at them until they looked away.

_Hey, look, a famous pop star being dragged by another famous pop star. Oooh._

"That little girl was crying, Nate, actually _crying._ And Tess, according to Mitchie, has always liked you best. She was looking forward to this for _ages_." He kept going, something about great responsibility coming with great power and other phrases that sounded like they were lifted straight from some kind of Disney film.

_Why does everyone like me best? It is just because Shane's taken and Jason's kind of weird?_ He glanced up to see they were nearing Uncle Brown's cabin.

_Maybe I can just quit, get out of here._ He glanced over at Shane who had paused briefly to discuss dance moves with some boy called Andy. His brother looked completely zinged up, alive in a way he hadn't been since they'd met him last year.

_Who am I kidding. Shane will never let me leave. Not in a million years. He has too much 'payback' to catch up on._ Nate pulled his arm away, ignoring Shane and pushing through into Uncle Brown's cabin. Jason was already there and they appeared to be having a heated debate on the best wood either for guitars or birdhouses, he wasn't entirely sure which. He slammed the door loudly and they both jumped, looking around at him.

"Nate-Mate!" Uncle Brown called enthusiastically, apparently able to blank out their conversation earlier. "What's up, matey?"

"The sky." Nate walked across the room to drop onto Uncle Brown's bed. "Oh, and could someone explain to me where all the fangirls came from? I didn't think I was all that popular."

"Well, you're sixteen now," pointed out Uncle Brown who, apparently, _did_ remember the conversation earlier after all. "I guess they all think they have a shot. Has anyone caught your eye?"

"They have caught many things but my eye is not one of them." Nate picked up Uncle Brown's guitar, playing a few chords thoughtfully.

"Plus you're a soloist now," pointed out Shane, entering the room and closing the door quietly behind him. "That's good for a few more fans at least."

"What if I don't want fans? I just want to play."

"Should've thought of that before you joined Connect 3. Shouldn't you?" Shane took the guitar from his fingers and sat beside him, proceeding to take up so much space that Nate gave up and stood up, going to lean against the wall. "So, Uncle Brown," Shane continued brightly. "You wanted to talk to us all."

"Yes! I did! There was something very important! Timetables!" He shouted this final word, beaming widely as though this was the most amazing thing any of us could have heard in our entire lives. "Timetables, I have them somewhere." Nate found himself pushed to the side so Uncle Brown could reach the notice board behind him and pull down three sheets of A4 paper. "They follow a fortnightly schedual and I think we've got you all on the classes your requested. First, Shane," he pulled the top one off the pile. "Composition. Mitchie's offered to help you even though she is _technically_ still a camper."

Shane's grin widened as he took his timetable, scanning through it. "No morning's this year either."

"Strictly post-11 am, as requested."

Nate closed his eyes in dread. 11 am? He only got up that early when... well, pretty much never, actually. And what was Brown talking about with the requests? Nate hadn't _spoken_ to his Uncle since discussing Shane's punishment last year, when had Shane got in planning all this?

"Jason!" Uncle Brown turned enthusiastically to Jason who was sporting a T-shirt from some stupid cow shop that read 'Elmoo' with a picture of Elmo turned into a cow.

"Uncle Brown!" Jason responded with the same enthusiasm. Apparently camp was something Jason was enjoying.

"Due to the strangest request I have had since founding this camp, Jason, you're on a brand new class starting this year that, for want of a more rocki- I mean, Popping name, we have called Woodwork."

Jason cheered and punched the air before taking his timetable off Brown and scanning through it. "Thanks Uncle Brown," he said brightly, enveloping Uncle Brown in one of his horribly stifling hugs.

"Any time, superstar." Brown ducked out of the hug, scanning through the last timetable. "And, Natey-mate. How's my youngest nephew doing?"

"Fantastic."

Unfortunately the Camp Pop atmosphere seemed to render everyone completely incapable of recognising sarcasm in any form. "Excellent! Now, Shane very kindly passed your request across to me –"

_Oh no._

"And I'm sorry about the timings but it really can't be helped, I'm afraid."

_Oh please no... please God no..._

"So," Uncle Brown finished, in the tones of one presenting a great treat. "You're on hip-hop dance all summer; though, of course, you can teach other types of dance if you really feel the ne-"

"No." Nate interrupted simply.

"What?"

"No," Nate repeated. "No way. I don't dance, I _can't_ dance." He snatched his timetable. There was one day, _one_ in an entire week that he didn't have to be teaching by ten. On two days, he was expected in the _classroom_ so after showers and breakfast, by _nine. Nine._ "No way," he repeated, as though if he refused enough this whole damn camp would just go away through the sheer force of his denial.

"But the timetables are all written up, they're set in stone now. We've sorted all the buildings and they can't be changed."

"Then I'll switch with someone," Nate jumped in quickly. "I'll take their classes, they can take mine. Easy as." He wasn't leaning against the wall anymore. In fact, it was taking all his strength not to attempt to shake Brown and shout that there was no way, no _way_ he was going along with this.

"Who?"

"Anyone!" he shouted desperately. "I'll do singing or guitar; I'll learn and teach _drums. _I mean, I'll do-" his eyes cast around, searching for ideas, and fell on Jason's brightly coloured T-shirt. "I'll do _woodwork_ if I have to."

"Woodwork," Jason pointed out. "Is taken. No one but me will be teaching woodwork in this camp."

Nate ignored him, turning back to Uncle Brown and all but falling to his knees. "_Please_, Uncle Brown. I'll do anything else, anything. Just get me a later class in something other than dance."

For a moment he thought he might have got through to him but then Brown just shrugged apologetically. "Sorry Nate-Mate. Unless Shane or Jason agree to swap, there's nothing I can do."

Nate glanced around at his brothers, pleading desperately with his eyes. Jason shook his head firmly, arms folded and Shane just smiled his bright smile.

"Cheer up, bro," he said, standing up and heading out the cabin. "Maybe you'll learn something. Hey, Uncle Brown, can you come and show me and Mitchie how to work a canoe? We still just go around in circles." Chattering brightly, Shane left the hut with Uncle Brown and left Nate alone with Jason who was clearly completely deluded.

"This is completely cool, isn't it Nate?"

"If by cool you mean completely horrible, then yes. It's cool."

"You know your hair's kind of messed up. Is that because of the air because I always thought the natural look was supposed to be a good thing."

"God, Jason, try to keep something in your head for more than three seconds! Sixty girls leapt on me. Sixty girls are not natural. Not to mention Uncle Brown sticking his fingers through it every chance he -!"

"Hey didn't you used to call him Brownie?"

Nate let out a snarl of frustration. "Newsflash!" he shouted at Jason. "I am _sixteen_ years old. Not six, not twelve, _sixteen._" He spun on his heel for what felt like the millionth time that day and stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door like a gunshot behind him.

Caitlyn

"Well," Mitchie offered for what must've been the sixth time. "Maybe you were nervous."

Caitlyn's hands were shaking but she didn't think it was nerves. Mitchie was holding the guitar and playing but it wasn't changing anything, it just made that strange tinny sound that electric guitars make when they aren't plugged in and magic helium doesn't exist. "Stop pretending to believe me," she snapped, not wanting to be harsh but unable to stop it getting through. "It's degrading. I'm not an idiot."

"I'm not pretending."

"Of course you are. What kind of lame person believes in _magic helium_? What kind of person thinks helium can make an electric guitar work without wires?" She snatched the guitar from Mitchie's fingers, throwing it across the floor of their shared cabin and trying not to sniff.

_Not here. Not here and not now._

"Caitlyn..."

Mitchie reached out but Caitlyn knocked her hand away. Mitchie couldn't understand, she couldn't understand how _hard_ Caitlyn had been _trying_ just so she'd be able to prove herself to her friend. "Leave me alone," she hissed, pulling away. "Just leave me alone."

She ran out of the cabin, the door slamming shut behind her and cutting the conversation short.

Nate

Nate kicked open the door to the first practice room he came too, slamming the door closed behind him and twisting the lock. Only once this was done did he let himself fall against it, resting his forehead against the wood and, for the first time in his life, feeling a twinge of pity for Shane.

Then he remembered Shane's grin when the timetables were being handed out and decided his brother had had his fair share of revenge for the time being.

There was a guitar across the room. Slightly reluctantly, he moved away from the cool wood and picked it up, flicking the strings with one finger as he sat down, leaning back against the far wall. It was an electric and he couldn't see any amps in here but whatever. Maybe he'd seize up again if there were cables. After all, that was what he _did_, right? That was why he was here, in the land of fangirls. So the fresh air could 'fix' him.

_Good luck with that._

Caitlyn

_Why does it never _work _when I want it to? _Caitlyn dropped to the ground, leaning against the back wall of the furthest music hut from the rest of the camp. _Why does it never _work_?_

At that moment, naturally at _that_ moment. Right when it was too late to be any use she felt the familiar tickle in her throat.

Nate

Nate hit a chord experimentally and heard the twang of strings looking for an amp and not finding one. Immediately he was hit by the painful memories. _God no._

He forced himself to focus, he had to concentrate on something else.

"Sometimes it feels, like the world is out to get you.

Sometimes it feels, like all paths lead to the same dead end."

Caitlyn

"Sometimes it feels, like the world just has no clue."

It was strange. Her throat was sore like she was breathing helium but her voice sounded the same as usual.

"We close our eyes, we dream and pretend."

Nate

"Sometimes we hope, and sometimes we dream

That nothing in this world, is quite as it seems." He rose to his feet, barely noticing that the guitar didn't sound even slightly amp-less now.

Caitlyn

"Sometimes we cry, and sometimes we fall

But a friend will take our hand to see us

Through it all." She stood up, her back against the wall behind her. Then her voice lifted in a squeak and she coughed violently, her throat heaving.

_God, I hate this. I _hate_ this._ She pushed away from the wall, stumbling into the trees her hand against her neck.

"I _hate_ this!"

Three birds, dislodged from their sleep, flew up into the sky. Caitlyn watched them for a moment then fell to her knees under the tree, feeling the burning in her throat cool. Whoever she had just unknowingly helped, she hoped they appreciated it.

Nate

"'Cause when the world comes hunting for you

You don't want to feel alone

Stand back to back with me

And I swear we'll make it home.

When the world is getting older

And leaving you behind

Stand with me

I swear I'll never leave your side." He hit the final chord and it jarred, the strange thing that had connected it to whatever amp he couldn't see broken. _That must be Uncle Brown's weird gizmo. Apparently it isn't all that effective._

He dropped back to the ground and, unable to stomach playing the guitar again, pushed it against the wall so he could drop his head into his hands.

_If tomorrow never comes, I will be eternally grateful. _He looked up at the door with the lock in the horizontal position and waited for a few moments. _If anyone wants to kill me. Now is the time. _

_Chemistry! I apologise for the very Disney singing moment, I'm trying to make this less tacky but it just fit so well! I avoided them both singing the chorus (Though Caitlyn now hates me.)_

_(:_


	3. Chapter 3

_Just so you all know, I don't usually update this often and the flow will possioble stop sometime soon. I will keep going, I just won't update every other day..._

_I have no idea how this fic is being written so quickly..._

_DISCLAIMER: Um... well... if i _owned_ Camp Rock (Or Camp Pop) do you really think I would be doing this? (I would be too busy attacking Nick)_

_This chapter is dedicated to Ele because I promised her a cameo and to all my other friends who still (thankfully) don't know I'm writing it._

_- Ekkah_

* * *

Three

**Nate**

He was almost entirely asleep when it came again. Loud like machine-gun fire it echoed around the small cabin, presumably waking all the wildlife for miles around and reverberating through the pillow and three blankets he had over his head in an attempt to block it out.

He pulled them off, rolling over onto his other side beneath the sheet that he had over him, the only weight he could endure in the horrible heat that permeated them. He needed their air conditioned tourbus. Why couldn't they have brought that to sleep in?

"Jason," he hissed under the horrible sound. Jason just shifted and let out another machine gun fire snore. "Jason," Nate repeated, considerably louder.

"Mmmhmm?" For a moment Nate actually thought Jason was awake but then he shifted and let out another long snore.

"How do you sleep through yourself?" Nate pushed himself up, grabbing the pillow and sheet and getting out of bed, pausing by Jason's to clap loudly in his ear and shake his shoulder.

"Mmm, I'm up." He rolled over, the only result being that his snores seemed to increase in volume.

Nate cursed under his breath then walked to the door of the hut, pushing it open. "Tomorrow night," he vowed. "You are sharing a room with Shane. Shane can sleep through thunderstorms."

Come to think of it, the sleeping arrangements were completely stupid. There was Jason who snored like there was some kind of competition for noise making and woke promptly at some ridiculous hour every morning. Then there was Shane who fell asleep the moment his head touched a pillow, no matter what else was going on, and slept until someone woke him then was grouchy at them for the rest of the day.

And finally there was Nate who was woken by the wind, mice and bugs in the lamp shade. Nate who found it hard enough to get to sleep in complete _silence_ and therefore once he actually fell asleep slept all morning. Nate who had been put on all the morning classes.

What was precisely the _worst_ possible pairing between them if they all wanted to both sleep _and_ get to their classes the next day? Hmm... Nate and Jason, anyone?

_Not that I particularly _want_ to get to my classes,_ he thought grimly. _But that doesn't mean that sleep wouldn't be nice right about now. Or right about a few hours ago at least._

He crossed through the camp, clutching his sheet and pillow. His first thought was the music huts but they were all locked for the night. The same went for the canteen but this one had a small balcony area out front. He curled up on the slatted floor, curling in close. Apparently it was only inside that the night was warm.

_I hate my life._

He closed his eyes.

**Mitchie**

Mitchie yawned heavily as she crossed through the camp from the cabin she shared with Caitlyn. Her friend had offered to take a share in the breakfast cooks but that had been pre-fight the afternoon before and afterwards they hadn't seen each other long enough to discuss it. Caitlyn had been missing most of the evening, arriving back at the hut around eleven when she didn't even say anything, just collapsed onto the bed dead to the world.

Not that Mitchie minded. Caitlyn wasn't under any obligation to help with the cooking this year, she'd just volunteered after enjoying it last year.

Mitchie was pulling out the key to the canteen when she saw the white lump on the step. _What?_ She thought, slowing down to let her tired thoughts catch up with what she was seeing. _Is this the food delivery? It's kind of early in the morning for it..._

She moved over to it. From closer up it looked less like boxes of foods and more like a pile of sheets. _No one would have laundry yet, though. This isn't even the laundry hut._ She poked the pile experimentally but, to her surprise, her fingers didn't go down at all. It hit hard into something very solid.

Something very solid which jumped and cried out. She pulled her finger back in surprise as the sheet was thrown off to reveal a boy she vaguely recognised as Shane's younger brother. "Sorry!" she shouted quickly as he pulled the sheet up over his bare chest, she could see his eyes wide in the dawn light.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"You're outside the canteen," she explained quickly, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm her heart rate. "I help out in the kitchen, I need to get inside." She held up the key to illustrate.

"I... God..." He glanced around him, apparently to verify her story. Then he looked out, squinting in the light. "_God,_" he repeated as though suddenly realising something horrible. "What time is it?"

"About," she glanced at her watch. "Seven thirty? We start serving breakfast at eight. I need to –"

"Seven thirty?" He interrupted in the tone one might use to say 'poisonous snakes.' "Like, the kind of seven thirty that comes _before_ midday?"

Mitchie blinked a few times. "Um," she managed after a few moments. "Yeah. If you want to hang around here I could find you some breakfast. You're Shane's brother, right? Nick?"

"Nate," he corrected absently. "Seven o'clock, right?"

"That's what I said."

Nate turned to look around the camp. "So _this _is what seven o'clock looks like," he said, sounding very unimpressed. "People get up for this?"

"Um," Mitchie found herself reminded of the tone that had been in Shane's voice when he complained about his allergies list. She'd been assertive then and it had worked. "_Some_ of us," she informed Nate sharply. "Have work to do."

Nate pushed himself to his feet, the rebellious expression on his face suggesting he disliked being scolded even more than Shane did. "Well _some_ of us," he snapped, mimicking her tone. "Have sleeping to do."

"You'll have to get up in half an hour for breakfast anyway, you may as well come and –" She trailed off as Nate fixed her with a look which said 'that's what _you_ think.' "Look," she pointed out in response to this. "I _saw_ your timetable. You have a lesson at nine o'clock today so if you _want_ to eat before it."

"There was an 'if' in that sentence that I liked the sound of." Nate bundled his pillow and sheet under one arm. "The music rooms will be unlocked by now, won't they?"

"The what?" Mitchie shook herself. " Why?"

"Because," Nate replied very slowly. "I need. Somewhere. To sleep."

"Don't you have a cabin?"

"I share it with a chainsaw." Then he was gone, walking across the paths in the direction of the music huts like he owned the whole world.

Mitchie watched him disappear then turned, unlocking the door to the canteen and turning on all the lights. Her mum immediately came out of the kitchen. "Hey, Mitchie. Thanks so much for agreeing to help out again."

"It's okay." She walked over. "I just met Shane's brother."

"Jason? I met him yesterday; we had a long conversation about birds. He seems like a nice boy. Perhaps a little easily distracted, but nice."

"No," Mitchie replied, pulling on an apron. "Nate."

"Oh, I haven't _seen_ him yet. Well, except at Final Jam last year. Is he nice?"

"He's..." Mitchie trailed off, searching for the right word. "Different."

**Nate**

Someone had been through already and unlocked all the practice rooms. Nate pushed open the door to the first one he came across, locking it firmly behind him then pushing a table in front of it and leaning a ride cymbal on top of that to block out the view from anyone looking in.

_Finally. Some quiet._

He rubbed his hands briefly across his arms to try and get some warmth back into them then lay down on the floor, pulling the sheet over him again.

_Stupid cooks, stupid brothers, stupid camp, stupid fangirls._

Within moments, he had fallen asleep.

**Shane**

"Shane!"

Shane turned around at the sound of Uncle Brown's voice, mentally running through everything he'd done so far today in an attempt to work out which one had provoked his uncle to use that tone. After a few moments he realised that, shockingly, there was nothing. "Uncle?" he asked in surprise. "What's up?"

"Guess," replied Uncle Brown with a haggard, stressed face that, sure enough, Shane was starting to recognise. He'd seen it not half an hour ago for the duration of a long rant from Mitchie. It had been on Tess' face during their _entire_ conversation and it had been resplendent on Mitchie's dad's face when he had been telling Shane about the person who had come uninvited into the kitchen and stolen a box of cupcakes.

"Nate."

"Nate," Uncle Brown agreed. "There I was thinking the worst thing we could have was a repeat of last year when I had to wake you up. There was innocent little me thinking. 'Well, how bad can Shane's little brother possibly be? I mean, I've endured Shane.'"

"I think that's what our parents were thinking too." Shane rested his guitar on the ground. "Okay, what's he done this time?"

"Disappeared," Brown replied simply. "He didn't show up for his nine o'clock class, not that I'm all that surprised, but he wasn't in his cabin. Jason said he hadn't heard anything all night."

"Well of course Jason didn't hear anything, you can't hear anything over Jason's snores." Shane bit his lip. "Well he's definitely around somewhere because he broke into the kitchens half an hour ago to steal breakfast." Shane glanced at his watch. "I have a class I need to get to."

"I'll tell Mitchie to cover until you arrive. Right now, you need to find Nate."

"Why me?"

"_I_ have classes to teach and administration to admin. Jason's looking but I can't trust him to not get distracted and you know Nate best. I've staked a lot this year on having Connect 3 here to teach which means I need _all_ members of Connect 3 to be here teaching. The _last_ thing Camp Ro... Pop needs after the lawsuit last year is for one of our celebrity instructors to be on a train to Chicago." He pushed a phone into Shane's hands. "Get going."

"How am I supposed to –"

"He's _your_ brother." Brown ran a hand through his hair. "Aren't you supposed to know him?" He sighed. "Just find him, okay?" then he was gone, already muttering about the couple of hundred other things he had to do.

_Right,_ Shane thought grimly. _He's my brother. He's _Nate._ Assuming he's not on a train to Chicago... where could he be?_ His eyes scanned across the camp, resting on the music rooms. _Well come on, where else?_

**Nate**

Nate hit another chord on his acoustic guitar pensively. You couldn't go wrong with an acoustic guitar. They sounded good, if not better than electrics and there were none of those pesky cables to get caught around your legs. Plus, they weren't affected by power cuts and equipment malfunctions like _some_ instruments he could think of.

He struck the second chord more violently, his fingers moving instinctively to a third. He had no idea what he was playing, he just slid through some exercises he'd been playing since he was five. He didn't want to play at all it was just that he was in a music room and it had taken effort to sneak through the camp and grab his guitar without anyone seeing. That and the fact that he liked to have something to do with his hands.

As far as he could tell, he'd done pretty well. The only person who'd seen him since his conversation with Shane's girlfriend that morning had been Shane's girlfriend's dad when he stole breakfast out the kitchen. Well, if you can count four cupcakes as breakfast. It was the kind of food their mum would call 'fat, calories and sugar.'

_Sometimes, those three are all the food groups you need._

There was a violent knocking on the door. Possibly all the other music rooms were full. Nate stopped playing, letting his hand rest on the strings instead and watched the Ride cymbal tremble very slightly as whoever it was knocked again.

_Go away,_ he thought roughly. _The hut's taken, go find your own._

"Nate!" came Shane's voice loudly. "Nate, I know you're in there!"

_Damn._ He'd been hoping for a few more hours, or preferably days, of privacy before someone came and found him. Didn't his brother have classes to teach?

"Nate, are you going to come out or do I have to go and get the key off Dee?"

_He won't get the key unless he _knows_ it's me._ At that moment Shane knocked hard enough to dislodge the Ride cymbal fully and it fell off the table, spinning on the ground while Nate looked up into Shane's eyes. _Okay, well that failed._

"Open the door, Nate."

Nate shook his head which caused Shane to let out a, rather amusing, cry of annoyance and hit the door hard again. "When I get in there!" he shouted angrily before disappearing off somewhere. Presumably to get the key.

Nate turned back to his guitar and hit another chord, running up and down the scale. Technically, he could leave now. If he was very careful he might even be able to hide out in the woods for a few hours before anyone found him.

But that would be pointless. That would be him sitting in the mud even though the class he was supposed to be running was already over. He'd already got out of it. What more could Shane make him do?

There was a click and he looked up to see Shane pushing the door open. "Up!" his brother shouted.

"Why?" Nate replied, grinning at him. "There's nowhere I have to be. I may as well just stay in here until lunch." He gave a small shrug as if to say 'nothing I can do about it.'

To his surprise, Shane just grinned in that way he had and walked towards him. Nate felt suddenly very aware of the fact that he was sitting down as his brother towered over him and lifted the guitar from his hands. "Wrong," he replied simply. "See, everyone's kind of worried about you and we really don't want to lose you again so we've got you all set up with somewhere to be."

Nate eyed Shane warily. There was no point Shane dragging him off to the class he was running. He would just mess it up and Shane knew that. "I won't move," he promised uncertainly as from Shane's expression he could guess whatever was lined up wouldn't be good. "I won't move from this spot until lunch, you'll know where to find me."

"On the contrary, I think you'll find it very educational."

Next thing Nate knew Shane had grabbed one of his arms firmly and was pulling him bodily from the room.

**Jason**

"Shane! Nate! Group hug!" Jason reached out to pull both his brothers close. To his surprise he ended up with one armful of Shane but Nate pulled out of reach. That was strange.

He let his arms drop and his eyes fell on Nate who had stepped back and was now folding him arms and glaring. Jason tilted his head curiously to one side but Nate's only response didn't make any sense so Jason could only assume it was in reference to an earlier conversation.

"No." He said firmly. "No way."

Shane tilted one hand up to his ear, grinning in the way he hadn't stopped doing since he arrived. The grin that always seemed to get larger when Nate was around. It was probably brotherly love at its best... though Nate didn't seem all that enthusiastic about it. But then, he was strange like that. "Sorry?" he asked, as though he hadn't heard.

Jason sighed. "He said," he started, but then Shane raised a hand to stop him.

"I've got this, Jason." Now Shane and Nate were watching each other. Shane just about avoiding laughing and Nate looking as though he wanted to poison something. "You agreed to come," Shane pointed out. "I believe your exact words were 'fine, whatever.' No go backs."

"Yeah," Jason added, turning to Nate. "No go backs. It's the tin rule."

Nate paused to look at him. "Why not the silver?" he asked. Jason tilted his head to one side. That was a good question. Why _wasn't_ it the silver rule? Or copper?

"Anyway, I'm sure Jason would appreciate your help with his woodwork class."

"You're helping with my woodwork class!" Jason stepped forwards to hug his brother again but Nate stepped back, raising both hands and still glaring. Jason let his arms fall, glancing at Shane curiously. "What's happening here?"

"_Nate_," replied Shane with a pointed look. "Would like nothing more than to assist in your class which starts in," he glanced at his watch. "Five minutes."

"Like Hell," Nate muttered. "Shane, a private word please."

Jason watched as Nate pulled Shane into the trees a few metres away then turned back to the aquarium he'd been examining. The orange and white fish were cool, he should get them for his Aquiturd.

_I need a bird book. And a fish book._

He would have to check the guiturd later to make sure no one (i.e. Nate in one of his weird camp moods) had knocked it over.

**Shane**

"No way," Nate repeated for what must've been the millionth time since Shane had dragged him out of the music hurt where he appeared to have set up residence. "No way."

"Strange," Shane replied, glancing at his watch again. He wanted to get to his _own_ class, not to have to waste his whole summer chasing his younger brother around. "Because I distinctly remember you saying that you'd do 'anything' except hip hop dance. You missed your class this morning, your punishment is to help out with Jason's."

"Can't I help at yours?"

Shane fought the urge to bash his head against a tree. He was almost certain he hadn't been anywhere _near_ this annoying last year. For a start he'd always slept where he was supposed to. "No," he snapped, starting to head off for his class.

"Why not?"

Okay, now Shane was just fighting the urge to punch Nate. "Because," he replied slowly. "You're _really_ getting on my nerves at the moment and I need some time without you."

Nate had the gall to look insulted. "Wait," he said roughly, his fingers closing around Shane's arm, presumably to hold him where he was. "Wait, _I'm_ getting on _your_ nerves? Well that's rich coming from you."

Shane turned back. "You think I didn't have it this bad last year, Nate? I had to hide in flowerbeds from girls, I had them coming up to me at all hours. I had all the nine o'clock classes and I had Uncle Brown pouring water on my head if I wasn't awake. So don't come whining to me because I _went_ through it. It's your turn." He pulled his arm away and stormed off.

_Okay, maybe Nate has something here. Slamming a door would be _so_ satisfying right about now._

**Nate**

Nate kicked the nearest tree. Hard. "Tonight," he shouted after Shane's retreating back. "_You_ are sharing with the chainsaw." Shane raised one hand. To be more accurate, he raised the middle finger of one hand.

"Maybe," he called, after a moment. "If you're really good."

"Hey, Nate." Next moment he was pulled into one of Jason's stupid one-armed hugs where the receiver just ended up in his armpit. Somewhere Nate really _didn't_ want to be right now.

"Jason," he replied stiffly. "Leave me alone." Except his heart wasn't in it because he had no choice but to go to Jason's lesson. The threat was clear enough: You go to Jason's lesson and play the good superstar or you sleep in the same hut as Jason again. Well, sleep was a relative word.

"Are you coming to my class?" Jason asked, sounding so puppy-dog that Nate couldn't help thinking he might've agreed even without Shane's threat. If he'd been in a better mood he definitely would've done.

"Yes," he replied, resisting the urge to clench his teeth or hit something.

Jason let out an exclamation of delight and punched the air. "It's going to be so _cool_! I was thinking we could start designing a proper Aquitar House, or maybe an Electric House of Bird and Fish. Come on, it starts in a minute and we have to be ready. This is going to be so cool! I love you, Nate, I love you _lots!"_

"Great," Nate muttered, trailing down the paths after the bright red of Jason's Elmo T-shirt. "God, Shane, why do you have to be such a jerk all the time? I bet you're hoping no one but you and Mitchie shows up for your damn class." Apparently Brown hadn't told any of the campers who was taking each class but Nate didn't trust that it wouldn't get around.

"This is us!" Jason said with enthusiasm as they stopped outside a hut with a crudely painted sign reading 'Woodwork.' "Do you think there'll be anyone else in there?"

_No?_ He didn't say anything though, just stood back with his arms folded watching Jason dither and worry for several minutes, straightening and restraightening his Elmo top.

"Okay," he said finally, taking a breath. "I've never taught anyone before."

_Is this what enthusiasm is like?_ Nate found himself thinking. _It's kind of annoying... no wonder Shane kept getting annoyed before that solo tour._ He cringed inwardly at the thought and pushed his mind onto other topics. _So... Aquiturd... what the hell is that?_

"Let's go." Jason reached up to push the door open and they both stepped inside.

To say the class was unpopular would be something of an understatement. There was one person in the cabin and she currently had her back to them, her T-shirt as blue as Jason's was red.

Jason coughed nervously. "Woodwork?" he asked, his voice trembling very slightly.

Nate rolled his eyes, pulling the door shut behind them and leaning against it. The girl was wearing black jeans, the bright blue T-shirt and, strangely enough, a large orange wrist band type thing. Her hair was black and as she started to turn around she was beaming almost was wide as Jason. "_Obviously."_

Then she had turned around fully to reveal that her bright blue top was not only bright blue but had the face of a furry blue creature that looked surprisingly _like_ Elmo and had the caption 'Me love cookie.'

Jason and the girl let out identical gasps of delight as their eyes fell on each other. "I'm Jason," Jason said quickly.

The girl's beam grew, if possible, even wider. "I'm Ele."

_No. Please... just no._


	4. Chapter 4

_(Ooh... an update (: I promise in chapter 5 we will discover what is up with Nate and at some point in this story the pairing I put in the synopsis will come in but right now we just have Nate angst and guiturds. Or Aquiturds. Or Aquiturd Wheels seeing as Ele is around to encourage Jason._

_So yes... please don't hate me for not updating and please review._

_**Advanced warning:** if this story isn't finished by november (Normally i would say this i very unlikely but my progress so far is strangely good...) then there will be a month gap while i do NaNoWriMo._

_Just a heads up. Now, on to the actual chapter)_

* * *

Four

_Kill. Me. Now._ Nate thought grimly as he sat at the edge of the woodwork classroom, unable to block out Ele and Jason's conversation.

"So, this guiturd of yours," Ele was saying with complete sincerity. "I had an idea, it would be hard to do in woodwork but maybe you could suggest it to your agent. Basically, I was thinking, what if you tried to do the same kind of thing but instead of a bird house, you used... an aquarium. Like... like an..."

"Aquitar," Jason provided, his grin stretching from ear to ear as him and Ele drew thumbnails on large sheets of paper.

"Yes! Yes, I love it!"

_Or yesterday,_ Nate amended. _Just kill me yesterday before any of this had to happen._ He found himself looking longingly at the Ele's guitar where it was leaning against the wall. _Kill me before the thought of Aquiturds or whatever the hell they're on now ever entered my brother's head._

"What I was thinking," Jason continued. "Was an Aquiturd House. It would be the perfect harmony: birds and fish."

Ele nodded slowly, as though her mind was working very fast and she had to move slow to keep everything in line. After several moments of profound thought after which Nate could've expected the meaning of the universe she offered. "What about hamsters?"

"Hamsters," repeated Jason with the air of someone receiving an epiphany.

"Hamsters," Ele repeated, her grin growing again as she pulled her guitar away from the wall. "If we put the hole for the birds here, then the entryway for the fish here with a sliding door then we can get an enclosed hamster wheel here." She pointed to the three spots on the guitar.

_Am I the only person here who is sane enough to realise that the birds will fly away and a concert will kill the fish and the hamster._

As though Jason could pick up on his thoughts, his brother seemed to remember he was there because he turned still beaming. "Oh yeah," he said brightly. "Sorry, Nate, I forgot about you for a moment."

"Best moment of my life," Nate muttered.

Jason was already standing up and grabbing his hand to drag him over to the sheets of paper. Next thing Nate knew he was being sat down with a pencil in his hand and Ele was beaming at him, her smile almost as wide as the one on her T-shirt. "I'm Ele," she introduced herself brightly.

"I heard," he muttered.

"This is Nate," Jason enthused, his arm slung across Nate's shoulders. "He's my little brother."

"Sadly," Nate added, but Ele just laughed.

"Hi," she said, holding out a hand which Nate ignored. "You're Jason's brother, from Connect 3 as well, right?"

"Yeah," Nate replied coldly, pulling the guitar from her hands and resting it across his knees. "I'm Nate Grey." He struck a chord, wincing very slightly at the twang and wishing he'd brought his acoustic guitar from the practice room.

"This girl who I'm sharing a cabin with thinks you're hot," Ele informed him, smiling like this was a good thing. "Her name's Carrie and she's really nice." She waited for a moment as though expecting Nate to reply. Nate hit a chord thoughtfully, watching his fingers so he wouldn't even have to _think_ the word 'fangirls.' "Should I tell her you said hi?"

Nate hit another chord before remembering the response he'd come up with last night. "You can tell her I'm not above getting a restraining order against every single girl in this camp if I have to." He hit another chord, glancing up briefly and smiling at her causing her to look very confused for a moment.

"So what do you think?" she asked, recovering herself well even if her smile looked slightly more forced as she pulled the sheet around to show Nate a surprisingly well drawn picture of their whatever it was called now. "I mean, we haven't got the mechanics or anything but..."

"You're lacking in logic, too," Nate pointed out, taking the pencil from her hand. "First: Only a bird as stupid as Jason would want to live in a guitar." He sketched a bird head in the hole she had drawn then scribbled it out. "Second: water in an electric guitar is a bad idea." He added miniature lightning bolts flying out of the guitar's body, adding a stick figure in a stupid T-shirt with their hair standing on end. "And third: you put a hamster in a guitar then take it to a gig and you end up with this." He added a hamster in the wheel, lying on its back with its small legs flapping in the air. "So how, precisely, were you planning to make this work?"

Ele pulled the drawing back, finally looking a lot less certain of herself as she examined the drawing. "I..." she trailed off, turning the drawing to look at it. "I mean, it's just a concept, isn't it?"

Nate glanced over at Jason to see his brother was glaring at him over his stupid Elmo T-shirt. He rolled his eyes and mouthed. "What? It was stupid."

"We don't have to plug it in," Ele rallied quickly, grabbing a rubber to rub out the sparks. "I mean if we just played a few small venues with it, you could play it without any wires."

Nate tried not to think too hard on this, he hit two more chords and ran up and down the most complicated scale he knew. "Whatever," he muttered once he'd finished and his nerves were slightly more settled. "But no one would be able to hear it and I doubt the animals would be all that happy. Not to mention the name."

"An Aquiturd Wheel?" asked Jason, actually having the gall to sound _surprised_ at the suggestion that this might not be the best name in the whole world.

"Yes, Jason, an Aquiturd wheel. It sounds like a spinning wheel that you'd find in a _toilet._"

"So you think we should go with the Electric House of Fish, Bird and Hamster?" Jason's voice was nervous and slightly excited as though he actually _thought_ this was a sane question.

"You want to know what I think?" Nate asked slowly, turning his gaze so the question encompassed both Jason and his new girlfriend.

Jason nodded enthusiastically, Ele nodded too though her nod was less certain. It was possible she was saner than Jason, maybe she'd be a good influence. Still, Nate's bad mood was very much unsatisfied so he lifted the two sheet of paper they'd drawn on including the one he'd been scrawling on.

"I think, this is a complete waste of my life." He tore the sheets in half then in half again. "And I think you're both idiots, well, I _know_ Jason's an idiot –"

"Hey!"

"But you appear to be from the same tree so I can't really be bothered with either of you right now." He glanced at his watch and discovered, to his great dismay that he had to endure another ten minutes of this before lunch. He hit another chord on Ele's guitar. "And Jason, if you say a _word_ about this to Shane I swear I will make the rest of your life a living Hell."

"What_ is_ your problem?" Ele snatched her guitar back out of his hands. "Why are you even _in_ this class if you're so sceptical about _everything._" She pulled the torn sheets towards her.

"I'm in this class," Nate replied, holding the sheets firmly at his end so they tore again. "Because my idiot brother and my idiot uncle saw fit to put me here. If you have a problem, feel free to take it up with one of them. As it is, you just have to live with me until lunch time."

"Shane's picking us up," Jason interrupted as though anyone else cared. "He wanted to talk to us about the campfire jam tonight."

_And there's going to be a conversation about switching rooms unless they want me to disappear again._

"Can you ask him to find somewhere else to keep your brother?"

"Tell you what," Nate offered. "I'll ask if he can send me home, that way we're all happy."

"Why are you even here?"

"You know, I've been asking myself that same question and I think I've got it pinned on dumb luck and a bad choice in family members." Nate let the papers that he was holding fall to the ground.

"Oh stop complaining, I mean you're _Nate Grey._ There are people with lives that are _far_ worse than yours who complain _far_ less."

"Well next time you get beaten up by a hoard of fangirls, you let me know, okay?"

"Oh come off it."

Naturally there'd be loud voices when he reached the woodwork cabin. One of them was unmistakably Nate though he couldn't hear enough to make out the words. The other appeared to be some kind of girl. _Someone signed up for woodwork? I thought people paid for the music._

"You know," Mitchie pointed out from beside him. "You're brother's not a particularly nice guy."

Shane shrugged. "It's probably the pop star thing," he offered. It wasn't so much that he was _defending_ Nate it was just... Nate was his _brother._ "I bet I was just as bad last year."

"I'm not so sure," Mitchie said slowly. "I mean, you had a few manners that came out when prompted. Like that time in the kitchen, you said thank you without me even having to _tell_ you to."

For a second Shane had no idea what she was talking about then he turned to examine her closely. "Wait, _you_ were flour girl?" Now he thought about it, it definitely made sense. "God, you _completely_ freaked me out. I was saying thank you to people all _day_!"

"You didn't _know?_ I assumed you'd see through it immediately!" For a moment they were laughing together then Mitchie pulled herself together slightly. "Anyway, I was doing the same kind of thing for Nate this morning but he just comes in with sarcasm as soon as your draw breath, kind of cutting too."

Shane sighed, heading up the steps for the cabin. "I'll have a word with him. I've been thinking about what effect the camp will have on him, didn't really stop to think about what effect a frustrated Nate might have on the camp." He pushed open the door in time to see a dark haired girl in a bright blue top shouting at Nate while Jason sat in the corner, drawing something on a large piece of paper.

"And if you stop for an _instant _to think about someone who _isn't_ yourself!"

"Oh because you're always right I suppose! Being famous means I can't have _feelings_ like normal people!"

Shane knocked the door shut hard behind Mitchie, the bang making everyone else jump and turn to look at him. "Something the matter?" he asked, directing his words mostly at Nate.

For a moment he thought Nate was going to shout at him too but then his brother, with apparent effort, calmed himself down enough to smile. "A debate which got slightly out of hand," he explained with a brief glance at Ele.

Shane made a slightly disbelieving noise. "A debate about what?" he asked slowly, this time directing his words at Ele who glanced at Nate and Jason before replying stiffly.

"We couldn't decide what to call it," she explained. "I mean, I wanted the Aquiturd Wheel and Nate wanted The Electric House of Bird, Fish and Hamster. Jason didn't have an opinion so he was doing the actual _designing _of the thing."

"And the torn up paper on the floor?"

Nate glanced around before jumping in. "That was the Electric House of Fish, Bird and Guinea Pig but we decided it would be weighted too much at the front and thus unsuitable for actually playing."

Jason's head snapped up. "We should make a guinea pig hutch." His eyes roved the hut, settling on Shane. "Hey Shane, When did you get here? Can I have a guinea pig?"

Shane glanced suspiciously at Nate but either he'd done nothing wrong or (more likely) he'd threatened Jason until the rest of the class backed him up. "You can have whatever you like, Jason, but we need to go get lunch. I got Brown to set us a table, I thought we could discuss playing something, Mitchie said she'll sing with us. Come on."

"Hey," Caitlyn glanced around the table where Tess was sitting with Ella and Lola. "Can I join you guys? I just finished my lunch shift." She nodded uncomfortably at the plates they were eating off.

"Sure." Tess smiled, pulling out the chair beside her.

Caitlyn glanced down at it, suddenly realising what was wrong with this picture. "Where's Peggy this year anyway? Wouldn't she be desperate to come back after winning final jam and recording that single with Shane."

"Peggy," said Ella with an air of importance. "Is performing live across America."

"What?" Caitlyn turned in surprise. "Why did no one tell me? Why?"

"Basically," Ella replied, smiling smugly. "She was opening for Shane's brother's solo tour, remember that one? The tickets sold out in, like, _two hours._ I was composing and I lost track of time and I _hated_ myself afterwards but I guess it was good... or bad... well Nate dropped out but Peggy kept going, she played the main act rather than the support band. Apparently everyone who showed up _loved_ her. My best friend from last year! A star!

"Speaking of best friends," Tess interrupted, peering around Caitlyn as though there was space where she'd expected something to be. "Where's Mitchie?"

Caitlyn glanced up as Mitchie entered with her all-star accompaniment. "Where do you think?" she muttered, sitting down and trying not to sound too jealous. _It's not that I'm jealous of Mitchie... I just want my friend back. I wish I'd never brought up the whole helium thing. I should've just kept it to myself._

At that moment the third member of Connect 3 entered the room, the one Caitlyn hadn't met. She knew he was the one everyone was fangirling after this year and she could see why. He was younger than the others but still really good looking.

As she looked over, he looked up and for a moment she could've sworn he looked straight at her. A sharp pain shot through her throat and she reached out frantically for her glass of water. As she did so, the eye contact was broken and when she glanced up again the youngest Grey brother had moved over to the table with the others and was sitting with his back to the world.

"Who was that girl in the blue top?" asked Ella. Caitlyn turned around to see everyone else was looking in the same direction she had been. "The one sitting next to Jason, I haven't seen her before."

"Don't tell me Jason's taken," Lola rose up as high as she could without looking like she was standing. "That only leaves Nate and he's too young for me not to mention he's apparently been sulking since he arrived. I couldn't cope with a boyfriend like that."

"Oh believe me you do _not_ want Nate as a boyfriend."

Everyone on the table turned to look at Tess who had been glaring at Nate's back but now turned to talk to them. "He's a complete jerk. He's, like, _more _arrogant than Shane was last year. I introduced myself, just the high I'm Tess Tyler, my mom was TJ Tyler, you know like everyone does here and you know what he did?"

"What?" asked Ella, leaning closer.

"He just looked straight through me and was like. 'Well I'm _Nate Grey.'_ Like he was so much better than me there weren't even _words_ for it." She stabbed her potatoes violently. "He was like 'I don't care about your mom and oh, wait, I don't care about you either.' I mean, not in so many words but the _meaning_ was clear."

There was a pause as they all considered the many failings of Shane's brother. After several moments Ella pointed out. "But he's hot."

And, suddenly, Tess was smiling. "I _know,_" she said, pushing her plate aside so she could lean closer. "And he's got that 'tortured artist' thing going on."

"The 'too cool for you,' approach," Lola added, smiling at Tess as she said it.

"What about you, Caitlyn?" asked Ella. "What do you think of him?"

"I..." Caitlyn pushed her potatoes and sausage around on her plate uncomfortably. "I don't know. I mean, yeah he's good looking."

"Waaay good looking," provided Ella.

"Okay," she agreed. "He's way good looking."

"Drop. Dead. Gorgeous," added Lola. "They all are, the whole band."

"Yes," Caitlyn agreed over them. "He's _possibly _the best looking boy I have seen so far who is not either obsessed with bird houses or taken. _But_ I like guys with personality, maybe a few flaws."

"Oh come on," Tess interrupted scathingly. "Everyone _says_ they like flaws but no one actually _likes _flaws."

"I don't know," Caitlyn countered. "They certainly make things more interesting." She prodded her food again even though she had no stomach for it right now. "I mean, not the kind of flaws you were talking about. I don't know what I mean."

"This is hypothetical anyway," Tess reminded them. "I mean, we'd all say yes if he asked but why would he ask? I'm sure he has important sulking to do. He has to mix with the 'higher class' in life."

Caitlyn sighed, pushing her plate away and standing up. "I'm going to go," she said, looking anywhere but up at the star table. "I want to get my laptop, sort some beats."

"Have you got the music for our performance tonight?" asked Ella, grinning enthusiastically. "It's my first time singing lead and I want everything to be _perfect._"

"I've got it, I'll see you guys later." She turned to head out of the canteen, unable to stop herself glancing over at the table and seeing Shane and Mitchie laughing like old friends.

_The Higher Class in life. Of course._

Then Nate glanced over his shoulder and she felt her throat burn again. She reached up to press her cool palm against it and left quickly. Maybe she could get in some guitar before it faded this time.

Nate glanced over his shoulder in despair as Mitchie and Shane burst out laughing _again_ over something that Ele had said. It was like the stupid girl with her annoyingly bright T-shirt was an instant hit.

_Can't anyone see that she's just a female Jason? Isn't one Jason enough?_

His eyes moved longingly towards the door and he briefly met the eyes of a curly haired girl who was looking up at the table with some kind of longing. Everybody wanted to be a star, it seemed. Nate wondered if it would help if he got on a table and told them all that it wasn't what they thought it was. It wasn't fame and parties and free stuff.

It was wasting your life away on pointless PR like this camp and always having to do what _Shane_ wanted because he was the _singer_ and when you finally got the chance to record some of your own material and go on a solo tour it messed your life up so bad that you couldn't play properly ever again.

"Nate, Nate are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

Nate pulled himself back to the table with a sigh. "No," he replied truthfully. "Go again."

Shane gave a long eye roll, sending Mitchie, Jason and Ele into hysterics again. "I asked," he said over them. "If you wanted to play at the jam tonight or wait for a while."

"Jam!" Ele shouted.

"I don't want to play at all," Nate muttered as everyone else laughed.

"Sorry, sorry," Shane composed himself. "What was that?"

Great. Now everyone was looking at him. "I said no," he muttered. "Not tonight. I want to get settled in to my cabin."

"You mean _my _cabin," provided Shane and god did this group _ever_ stop _laughing?_

"Yeah, Shane, I mean the cabin which used to be yours but is now mine. Speaking of it, I'm going to go and start moving my things now. You can come and pick up your junk later." He pushed his chair back harder than was necessary and it fell over behind him.

"Nate," Mitchie groaned imploringly. "Nate, don't be like that."

"I'll see you at dinner I expect." _Then at lunch tomorrow. And dinner. And lunch and god I hate my life._

He walked away from the table, ignoring the calls and the whistles and pushing past all the people who got in his way as he crossed the dining hall.

He just wanted to get to his private cabin, find his acoustic guitar and compose until he could fall asleep and pretend none of this had happened.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: This is a loooong chapter. I think it's the longest I've written (and I'm further ahead on writing than I am on posting) and I'm not entirely sure what happens..._

_Except we finally find out why Nate's all jumpy. In fact, it's right there \/ for anyone who can't be bothered to keep reading my wonderful author's note._

_**Disclaimer:** If I owned Camp Rock I wouldn't be anywhere near this mean to the characters..._

_Ooh, I remember what I wanted to say, I'm thinking (Thinkingstarted but might not continue) of writing another CR/CP fic which is a prequel to Camp Rock. So it would be set 3 years before the film and would be about Nate, Jason and Shane going to Camp Rock as brothers and eventually putting aside their (many) differences (read: arguments and fights) to form what becomes known as Connect 3. I'm currently calling it Connecting Three so please review if you're interested in reading. If there isn't interest I probably won't bother with it._

_So yeah. Please Review so I know you're reading/enjoying/hating!_

_-E_

Five

**Nate**

_The song wasn't the best one of his set. He'd written as many songs as he could for the solo tour and he knew this one was the worst of the lot. People kept saying they liked it. The label liked it, Shane liked it. Only Jason knew as well as Nate did that it sucked but Jason's opinion wasn't worth anything._

_So there he was in front of the kind of crowd he usually played in front of with his brothers, his _band_ behind him. He was following Peggy who was the most incredible support act he could've dreamt of and as if they wasn't nerve wracking enough the crowd were rowdier than he'd ever seen them before._

_As he stood there he tried to remember Shane's words about the song. '_It's rock, Nate, you're the only one of us who can do that so get out there and _do_ it.'

_No... that wasn't helping. Still, Nate smiled and leant closer to the mike. "The next song I'm going to play wasn't on the album," he opened. Possibly not a good start, people liked songs they could sing along to. "It's called Show Down."_

_He brushed his fingers across the strings of his guitar, checking the sound. He could change it after this song, the pitch wasn't off yet._

Stop putting it off,_ he thought fiercely. _It's just a song. Play it.

_He glanced over at the drummer, bassist and backing guitarist that had been hired for the tour. They looked back blankly as if to say 'what are we waiting for?' It wasn't like touring with Connect 3, it wasn't like playing with friends. _This is what I get for wanting to play something that isn't stupid cookie-cutter pop star stuff,_ he thought grimly, giving in and starting to pluck the opening riff. _God, that was Shane's phrase. Please tell me I'm not turning in-

_He cut himself off to lean into the mike. "One day," he opened forcefully and the rest of the band leapt in adding the thudding drum beat that the crowd in front of him seemed to be studiously failing to dance to. "I will change the world._

"_One day, I will stand up and say here I am."_

_The crowd seemed to be defiantly _not_ getting into it. Maybe they were all guitarists like him and Jason rather than the cookie fans from all the other gigs who just wanted more Connect 3 trash. "One day, I will find the perfect girl."_

Why does Shane like this song?

"_One day, when I start to give a damn."_

_The drum roll hit leading up to the chorus which always hurt his throat. _I will never scream again,_ he swore silently as his fingers moved of their own accord. "But right now, I'm gonna party all night long, tonight,_

"_Gonna find the one for me, tonight,_

"_Gonna look you in the eyes, tonight_

"_Fighting all the others for you, tonight."_

_He closed his eyes, letting his fingers drift for a moment's peace before he had to launch into the dull riff and horribly written lyrics of the second verse. He'd given up looking down at the crowd now and was just staring at the spot light that was glaring down on him._

Gonna let the light, shine on me.

_But that wasn't his song, no, _his_ song was the one that killed his vocal chords and had mangled the strings on his acoustic guitar when he tried to play it. _His_ song was worse than the one written by Shane's lame girlfriend at the even lamer camp._

"_But right now." Something was going _very_ wrong here. The music wasn't getting louder, it was getting quieter. Nate bit his lip but he had no choice now but to go through with it. "I'm gonna party all night..." he trailed off. He wasn't Nate Grey, singing a rock song to a crowd anymore._

_Somehow, he'd turned into some kid who was standing on a stage holding an electric guitar which wasn't working and yelling the lyrics to a song which no one had particularly liked when they _could_ hear it._

_He glanced around desperately, briefly meeting the eyes of the second guitarist who just shrugged and hit a chord as though to demonstrate that his guitar wasn't working._

Like I hadn't noticed!_ Nate wanted to yell. The man just pulled the strap off his head, resting the guitar on the ground._

"_I'm going to take a break," he called._

Wait... what? _Nate found the urge to throw something as the man beckoned to the bass player and they both wondered aimlessly off the stage, apparently deep in some kind of discussion._

_He looked at the edge of the stage where a technician shrugged, lifting a cable to show that plugging it in then unplugging it had no effect. He called something which Nate couldn't hear over the rapidly rising sound of the crowd. It could've been 'power's out.' It could also have been something to do with cowering. Or cows in general._

_He turned back to the crowd, focusing on the now considerably dimmer spotlight. "Sorry about this," he called as loudly as possible. "We seem to have a small equipment malfunction."_

"_I'll say," came a female voice from right below him._

"_Yeah," came a second voice, also from far too close considering the barrier had been a good metre away from the stage._

"_I don't know." Another female voice. Nate finally summoned the courage to look down and saw that the barrier had been completely ignored. The girl who had just spoken suddenly grabbed his leg and he felt the floor fall out from under him. "I like it better this way."_

"_So, what?" asked the first voice, sounding strangely bleary as Nate tried to shake off the pain in the back of his head so he could push himself up. "You're just going to beat him up?"_

"_I don't see why not. I mean, I'm only here because the club was closed tonight and there was supposed to be music. I got the ticket off a guy outside." Someone peered into his face but his vision was kind of blurry._

_Then they were pushed aside and replaced by a fuzzy pink shape who thrust some kind of book into his face and a pen into his limp right hand. "Hi," came a bright voice which then continued impossibly fast. "I'm Stacy and you're _totally_ by favourite of the Grey's. I mean, most people like Shane but..."_

_Then the pen was snatched from his fingers, there was something strange on him and someone was yelling. "I signed Nate Grey's face!"_

Great,_ Nate thought dimly. There were some people in black pulling at the ever growing crowd around him but he couldn't quite focus. Someone was yelling something about his music sucking and everyone seemed obsessed with his name._

"_Nate!"_

"_Nate Grey!"_

"_I got his guitar, I got Nate's guitar."_

"_I got his microphone!"_

"_He signed my book!"_

"_Nate!"_

"_Nate!"_

_Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone lobbing an open bottle filled with yellow liquid. He just had time to think _Oh no... oh please no..._ before the liquid was splashed across his face, dripping through his hair._

"_Nate!"_

"_Nate Grey!"_

"_Hey, stuck up idiot!"_

"Ele!_ Don't call my brother an idiot!"_

"_Why not, he _is_."_

"_Yes, but calling him one is my job."_

"_Shane, has anyone ever told you you're no fun?"_

"_Nate!"_

Nate's eyes snapped open and suddenly his thoughts were completely clear. There were still people leaning over him but nowhere near as many. There was liquid running through his hair, across his cheek and lips but when he licked it uncertainly it didn't taste of anything. It was just like water.

"Nate!" someone was shouting. "Naaaa-than."

"I'm up," he managed breathlessly. "I'm up." He blinked a few times to bring the people in front of him into focus. Shane, of course, holding an empty vase in one hand and a handful of flowers in the other. Jason, who was sticking some kind of picture on the wall opposite and, strangely enough, Ele who was just standing there and grinning. Nate fixed her with a glare first. "What're _you_ doing here?" he snapped.

"They said they were going to pour water on you," she explained innocently. "I couldn't resist."

Shane was already sitting on the bed, presumably because he wanted to be in the perfect position to deliver a poke that was more like a jab to Nate's chest. "_You_," he said, accompanied by the jab which hurt a surprising amount. "Have a class to teach. I hear there's a whole crowd who were most _disappointed _that you couldn't get to their lesson yesterday but we _promised_ them you'd be there today and they said they'd bring _all_ their friends."

The tone of voice was enough to suggest fangirls. _But they don't know what class I'm teaching. He's bluffing... he has to be. I cannot _cope_ with fangirls right now._

"That was just Andy though, wasn't it?" asked Jason, turning away from the full-colour picture of the Aquiturd Wheel which he had just pinned to the wall. "He said he'd bring some of his friends when he said he was disappointed that you weren't taking the class again, Shane, remember?"

For the first time in possibly his entire life Nate was grateful for Jason's existence. He pushed himself up, knocking Shane back at the same time. "Fine," he snapped. "But if you want me to go to this class, you're all going to have to leave."

"Why's that Nincompoop?" Ele asked, moving closer to Jason. "So you can run off and lock yourself in a music room again?"

"No," Nate replied, smiling slightly as he pushed back the sheet he was covered with. "So I can change, bird-girl."

"Oh." Ele blushed very slightly and stepped back. "Come on, Jason, let's go and get breakfast then we can check the guiturd house. We might have to put some food in."

"Yeah," Nate agreed warmly. "Wouldn't want the guiturds to go hungry."

Ele shot him a dark look. "Come on, Jason." She left the hut, dragging Jason (who was smiling at Nate as though he couldn't believe his luck... the idiot) behind her. Nate briefly heard him ask 'what's a nincompoop?' before the door shut behind them.

Nate turned to look at Shane. "Well?" he asked roughly, pushing back the covers fully and climbing out of bed. "You just staying to mock me too?" he shook wet hair out of his eyes, glancing at the clock to see if he had time for a shower. His class was in two minutes... so probably not.

"What were you dreaming about?" asked Shane, sounding less cocky than he had since he arrived. It would've been a welcome change except that it came with questions like these which Nate couldn't (_wouldn't)_ answer.

"Nothing much," he replied innocently, pushing through his suitcase to avoid Shane's eyes. "I don't really remember my dreams. It was probably just the usual."

"Didn't seem like it." A chord rang out behind him suggesting Shane was playing with his guitar. "You were tossing really badly, nightmare?"

Nate shrugged uncomfortably. "Probably." He pulled a plain T-shirt out of the bag and slid it over his head. "I told you, I don't remember it."

"What do you think it was about?" asked Shane with the kind of brotherly concern Nate _really_ didn't want to have to face right now.

"Dunno," he muttered, snatching his guitar from Shane's fingers and sliding it onto his back.

"Do you think it might've been about what happened that night on your solo tour?"

Nate moved towards the door. "I told you. I don't _remember_."

Shane stood up, stepping in front of him. "You don't remember the dream or you don't remember what happened on the tour?"

"Neither," Nate replied quickly, realising after half a moment that this was wrong. "Both! I don't know!" He moved forwards and, to his surprise, Shane stepped to the side to let him past, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"You know you can talk to me, Nate. About anything, right?"

Nate shrugged off the hand. _It's too late now, Shane. Nothing you can do._ "I have a class to teach," he muttered, walking towards the door. "I'll see you at lunch."

**Shane**

"Nate," Shane called after him but the door swung shut, separating them fully. "Nathan," he repeated softer, turning away to run his fingers across the wood of Nate's bed. "Why won't you just _talk_ to me?"

He turned away, pushing open the door of the hut. His eyes fell quickly on Mitchie running towards him and smiling brightly. The sun was shining and it was such a nice day he could already feel his troubles fading. Nate could sort himself out, the camp would be good for him.

"Come on," he said, smiling at Mitchie and sliding an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go out in the canoe. We can both face the same way this time."

Mitchie laughed. "Maybe we'll finally get _across_ the lake."

Shane smiled back and they walked off together.

**Nate**

Nate took a deep breath before pushing open the door to his classroom. He met the eyes of one girl and saw them visibly widen before jerking back and letting the door slam.

_I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this._

"Nate?"

The door had opened behind him. He turned to see a boy who was taller than him, holding a pair of drum sticks and for half a second he wanted to panic and run.

Then he saw the boy's hesitant expression and the way he was using the drum sticks to tap uncertainly against his legs as he hovered in the doorway. _Not a threat._ Even as he thought it he knew it was stupid. There were no threats, no one here _wanted_ to hurt him or to leap on him.

_It's just echoes of the nightmare._

"Nate?" the boy repeated, sounding even less certain and even more scared than before.

_Why is he scared of me? Isn't it obvious that I'm useless? _"Yeah," Nate replied, trying to keep any shaking out of his voice. "Yeah, that's me."

"I thought it was," he sounded slightly less scared and more enthusiastic now as he shifted his drumsticks to one hand and held the other out. "I'm Andy, I was friends with your brother last year. Well, he helped me with my dancing quite a bit."

Nate glanced at his hand for a moment then turned away, glancing at the door. "You think I can help you more?" he asked, trying to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"Of course, I think you'll be an awesome teacher."

"You know I'm, like, _younger_ than you?"

"That doesn't matter though, does it, it's all about skill here."

"Whatever." Nate pushed through the door with the vague aim of getting away from Andy in his mind managing to obliterate the memory of the crowd in the room who expected him to teach them. As he entered the room, however, the crowd of _students_ turned to look at him.

It wasn't as bad as he'd first feared. Only about half of the room's twenty or so occupants were girls and none of them exactly looked _poised_ to attack.

The door closed behind him and he glanced back to see Andy had stepped in after him. After a long silence he stepped forwards. "Guys, this is Nate. He's Shane's brother and he's taking our dance class this year."

Nate glanced around again. Apparently no one had any idea what to do; they were all looking to him for guidance. He raised a hand. "Hi." He walked further into the room, pausing to examine a box full of black and white caps and a separate box for fake microphones. _What's the point?_ His eyes fell on a collection of CDs all of which looked kind of homemade.

'_Barron and Sander: Hasta La Vista.'_ Hey, he remembered that one. It had been the opening song in final jam the year before. The one with the trampolines.

_Last year was good. Sitting by the pool, arguing with Jason and laughing at Shane when all we had to do was beg our label to let us give Shane free range and judge final jam. Why do we have to do all this now?_

His eyes fell on a small pile of cushions in the corner. _Yes! My luck is turning!_ His entire body was yearning to go lie down and fall asleep again. Maybe he could sleep properly this time. "Okay," he opened, turning to the group which he really didn't want to have to think of as his class. "My idea of dancing is jumping around in circles with a guitar." He shrugged the instrument off his shoulder to illustrate the point. "So your task today is to be really _really_ quiet while I sleep. Can you do that?" He was turning to the pile of cushions when someone spoke behind him.

"What, you just want us to sit here?"

Nate glanced back. "Or stand," he offered. "Or even lie, I'm not all that fussy."

"Um," this time is was definitely Andy's hesistant voice speaking in that slow way which Nate was starting to recognise as someone going 'Are you genuinely being an arrogant jerk or are you just slightly crazy?'

_Arrogant jerk. Every time._

"Shouldn't you, you know, be _teaching_ us something?"

Nate shrugged, walking over to the pile of cushions and kicking it over to make a larger soft space. "Probably not," he replied idly. "Seeing as I don't know the first thing about dancing, hip hop or otherwise." He sat down on the pile then lay back experimentally.

"Well, we could make something up and show you at the end of the session," offered a random girl.

"Whatever you want," Nate agreed, rolling over to face the wall and closing his eyes. "Just remember. No noise."

**Shane**

Shane was starting to get accustomed to it but it didn't mean that it was any less aggravating to have his path to the canteen blocked by Andy and a girl who both had their hands on their hips. He couldn't avoid them now, not after they'd seen him, so he just sighed and walked towards them.

"Nate," he said before they could even start. He could feel a headache starting in his temple and tried to avoid thinking about their conversation or lack of conversation that morning.

"How did you know?" asked Andy.

"I have been taking complaints about my brother for the past three _days_. You start to recognise the signs." He leant against the wall. "What's he done now?"

"He didn't teach us _anything,"_ the girl interrupted. "He just slept for the entire session. We tried dancing even without music but he complained that our footsteps were too loud and they were... what was it?"

"Vibrating the cabin," Andy provided. "Look, Shane, can't you teach us again? I was really getting somewhere last year and I'm not into composition. I never see you."

Shane fought the urge to bash his head against the wall. _I _did_ it last year. I hated it too!_ "Yeah, well. I think I'm better at the composition side."

"I thought Nate wrote all your songs," said the girl with an annoyingly innocent curiosity. "Why doesn't he do composition?"

"He doesn't write _all_ our songs. He just writes some of them."

"He wrote all the songs for his solo tour. I saw them, he was really good."

Shane turned on her. "Look, do you like him or do you not like him?"

The girl met his eyes. "I like him, but I want him to _teach _me. I don't want to sit in a cabin for three hours unable to move because a moody superstar thinks –"

"Mitchie!" Shane pulled away from Andy and his friend. "Yes, i remember, that place i had to be right now."

"What?"

"_Right now,_" he repeated firmly. "_Remember?_"

"Oh." Realisation dawned on her face and she moved forwards the grab his arm. "Yeah, come on Shane or we'll be completely late. You _know_ how bad that would be."

Shane shrugged apologetically at Andy and let Mitchie drag him away and out of sight of the canteen where he collapsed against a wall. "I hate running away from people I _like._ Don't I spend enough time running away from people I don't like?"

"What was that about anyway?"

Shane turned to her. "Take a wild guess," he replied coldly.

"Nathan, perchance?"

Shane gave up on composure and bashed his head hard against the wall behind him. "Shouldn't people go to Uncle Brown if they have Nate-issues? I'm not his guardian."

"You're his brother."

"Yes, because everyone has _such_ good control over their siblings. Then that girl was claiming Nate wrote all the songs for Connect 3, I spend half my _life_ writing those songs. Nate knocks one out in his spare time and suddenly everyone assumes he's our songwriter?"

"Shane, calm down. Let's just go get some lunch. I think Andy and the girl were heading away from the food area so if we go now hopefully we can avoid Nate drama."

"Hopefully." Shane sighed and followed her back across the camp.

**Caitlyn**

"I was talking to Andy," said Lola, sitting down at the table opposite Caitlyn. "And apparently Nate just slept through their _entire _class."

"Which class?" asked Tess quickly, apparently forgetting again that she was supposed to _dislike_ Nate. "I mean, I didn't have any classes this morning so I might as well sign up for one."

Caitlyn pushed her mashed potato with a spoon. "You're that desperate to watch Nate Grey sleep?"

"There he is!" squealed Ella, pointing to the door. Despite herself, Caitlyn turned to see the boy enter. He definitely _looked_ like he'd just been sleeping. His hair was messed and he looked kind of dishevelled.

It suited him. Apparently everything suited him and this was really starting to get on Caitlyn's nerves. He was annoying _everyone_ on camp, wasting everyone's time and spending more time with _her_ best friend than she was and he still managed to look good while he was doing it. Wasn't there some rule against that?

"How many spaces do you think there are in Nate's class?" asked Lola thoughtfully.

"More than there will be in half an hour," replied Ella simply.

Caitlyn turned back to her plate and tried not to get annoyed with _everyone_ around her. She wished, as always, that Mitchie was here. Mitchie didn't go idiotic around pop stars like everyone else seemed to. That was why Shane liked her in the first place. That was why she _wasn't_ here.

"Lovebirds at twelve o'clock."

Caitlyn turned in time to see Shane and Mitchie enter, arms locked around each other's shoulders. Mitchie didn't even look around before following Shane to the stars table where Nate was already drowning his meal in gravy.

Caitlyn was standing before she even realised she was planning anything. "Hey, Mitchie, over here. I saved you a seat."

Mitchie turned around, apparently surprised that someone other than Shane might actually enjoy her company. Her mouth opened into an 'o' shape as if to say: 'oh, I have other friends... how strange.' She paused then turned to Shane and muttered something before coming over.

_Wait... did that work? I wasn't expecting it to _work.

"Sorry," Mitchie said, stopping two tables away. "I said I'd sit with Shane this lunch, Caitlyn. I'll sit with you guys at dinner."

"That's what you said at dinner yesterday." Caitlyn took half a step forwards. "Around the same time you told me you'd take kitchen duty this morning. The kitchen duty you conveniently forgot about meaning your mum had to come into our cabin and get me up because they were short of hands and you were off with your boyfriend."

Mitchie took a step back as though she was surprised to be attacked like this. "Well I'm sorry I couldn't cover for your every whim and let you sleep for another half hour. I had other commitments, I'm helping out with a _class_ this year, Caitlyn, remember?"

"It's not about covering my every whim, it's about doing what you _say_ you'll do and not just piling everything on me when you get tired of the responsibilities. It's about remembering that you have _other_ friends."

"Yeah," Mitchie agreed. "I have friends who can _breathe helium. _Oh, sorry, I mean _magic_ helium, of course."

One minute Caitlyn was standing there seething with rage and the next she was throwing one of her sausages at Mitchie's head.

Mitchie's eyes widened and she grabbed the plate of the boy next to her, scooping up a forkful of mushy peas and flicking it across the gap between them.

At some point, someone must've shouted 'food fight' or some kind of equivalent as one moment she was attacking Mitchie with a plate full of mashed potato and the next she was ducking behind a room full of flung food.

"Okay," Mitchie said as they cowered behind a table with a small pile of sausage missiles. "I'm sorry about this morning it's just I haven't seen Shane in a year and he asked me to be his girlfriend."

"I guess." Caitlyn paused to stand up and fling a sausage at the corner where Nate was cowering behind a food tray. "I just... I dunno, everyone's being really annoying and I miss having someone to laugh at them with."

"I'm sorry I told everyone about the helium thing."

"I think with the food barrage they'll probably have forgotten."

"I'll meet you in our cabin tonight, we can work on a piece of music. I mean, I can't enter Final Jam with Shane and we want to win this year, right?"

Caitlyn held up a hand to stop her. "Mitchie," she said slowly as an idea dawned on her. "I have the _perfect_ plan."

"For what? Final Jam?"

"No," Caitlyn pulled Mitchie down slightly and pointed. "If we grab a couple tray and cross over there using them for cover, guess what we'll have."

"Food-covered trays?"

"We will have _control_ of the gravy squirter."

"Caitlyn, have I told you recently how much I love you?"

**Nate**

_With any luck he won't find out at all._ Nate shifted his tray slightly to block a sausage thrown from some table in the middle of the room. _I mean, what's the likelihood that they'll tell?_

He reached up with one hand to run his fingers through his hair and check for peas. He could just about see Shane on the other side of the table with his clothes covered in green gunk as he threw handfuls of food across the room.

Then his eyes fell on something much _much_ worse. Mitchie and the curly brown-haired girl who'd started this all off were standing next to the gravy tap, hitting it hard with a plate.

"Shane," Nate muttered. "Check out your girlfriend."

"Ah..." Shane moved back slightly, letting his plate fall to the ground. "Hey, Nate, you got any more of those trays?"

"Taken."

"Oh no... Nate, back door."

Nate peered over the edge of his tray to see the door Shane was talking about. The door through which Uncle Brown had just come accompanied by a scarily familiar girl with red-rimmed eyes and long brown hair. _Oh no... I guess him not finding out is completely out of the question._

That was the moment the tap broke and for several moments there was _complete_ pandemonium as brown gravy showered down on all of them and food was still flying everywhere.

"Stop!" came a shout. "Everything stop, right now!"

Food fell from people's hands as everyone turned to the same place where Nate was looking to see Brown standing in the doorway and looking around at them all while gravy dripped onto his head. For a few moments it was silence but for the rain then that was shut off too.

"I believed better than this from _all_ of you. No one is to leave this room until it is so spotless I can see my face in the walls, floors and tables." His eyes scanned, apparently looking for a culprit but fell, instead, on Nate who had just put the tray down in order to brush a few scraps of potato off his clothes. "Nate." There were no cheesy nicknames now. Maybe Nate should make Brown _really_ annoyed more often. "Did you see who started this?"

Nate glanced at the gravy tap where Mitchie was shaking her head pleadingly. He shrugged at her. "The curly dark haired one," he explained, pointing to the completely drenched girl beside Mitchie.

**Caitlyn**

Brown turned to her with an expression of despair. "Caitlyn," he sighed heavily. "Again?"

Caitlyn shrugged, stepping surreptitiously away from the broken tap. "What can I say?" she asked innocently. "I just threw a couple of sausages and it all got kind of out of hand."

"You rained gravy on _everybody._"

"Technically, I did, yes."

"Caitlyn Geller, Nate Grey, my office. _Now._ The rest of you, I want this mess cleaned up."

_Okay... I get why I have to go to the office... but what did _Nate_ do this time?_

**Nate**

_Oh no..._

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

_((Okay, remember when I said the last chapter was long? Well... that was before I wrote chapter nine._

_I know, I'm way behind on posting. I blame the helium keeping me up all night._

_This chapter is dedicated to everyone who doesn't know it exists just because it's so much more fun that way (:_

_- E))_

Six

***Nate***

Nate trailed unenthusiastically beside the dark-haired girl that Brown had called Caitlyn. "I get what I did," she said saying as though she assumed they were both in this together and thus he would want to talk to her _so much_. "But what did you do to get him so upset?"

"Nothing much," he lied, glad to see that the dark haired girl had disappeared off somewhere.

"You didn't have to _tell_ him that I started it, you know."

"You did though," Nate pointed out.

"I'm _best friends_ with your brother's girlfriend."

"All the more reason."

"I've been talking to you for thirty seconds and I already think I know why everyone hates you."

"That's very observant of you. Perhaps you could enlighten my fangirls before I have to get in touch with my agent and arrange a restraining order against every girl on camp." He pushed forwards until he filled the gap between Caitlyn and Brown which would hopefully discourage both of them from speaking to her.

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn paused for a moment before childishly sticking her tongue out at Nate's back. _Okay, anyone who likes him much have something wrong with their heads,_ she thought irritably. _He has _got_ to be the most unpleasant person I've ever had to talk to. Plus, he grassed me up even after Mitchie asked him not to._

At that moment she felt a familiar tickle in her throat. _No..._ she glanced into the window of the music hut they were passing where someone was practising on an electric guitar.

_Louder._

The chord rang out, making Nate and Brown both turn too in surprise. The boy in the window jerked back, eying his instrument like it was a wild animal.

_Oops..._ She closed her eyes, trying to focus on soothing her throat and pushing oxygen through her lungs. _Or, like, non-magic helium. I'd be okay with that too..._

***Nate***

Nate turned away from the window. _Brown's weird electric system is way temperamental this year. I'm glad it didn't mess up like that when we played _Play My Music _last year._

Behind him, Caitlyn was gasping as though she was finding it hard to breathe. Maybe she had asthma. Nate glanced up to see Brown was already heading up the steps to his cabin. _This Camp is _far_ too small._

_Well,_ he thought with attempted optimism as Brown held open the door without looking at him. _At least he probably hasn't heard about my first class yet. This is just going to be about what happened between the class and the canteen... as if that isn't bad enough._

The door swung shut behind them and Brown walked around so he could look at them both and give you the 'I am completely disappointed in you' look. "Right," he opened. "Lay it on me."

"I wasn't my fault," Caitlyn said quickly. "I didn't even really _start_ the food fight, I just threw food and it all got out of hand and –" she said all this a double speed and probably would've kept going except that Brown held up a hand to stop her, turning to Nate.

"And Nathan? Do you have _any_ excuse? Anything at all?"

Nate shrugged. "They were annoying me," he offered. "I think one of them was the one that stole my top."

"You _think._" Brown folded both arms and sighed. "I'm _very_ disappointed in you, Nate. You're trying my patience _far_ more than Shane ever did last year and now this."

Nate rolled his eyes but he was fed up of everyone comparing him to Shane. "So I made a couple of girls cry," he snapped. "Big deal, they were asking for it."

"_Fifteen_ girls is _not_ a couple, Nate!"

***Caitlyn***

"Wait," Caitlyn interrupted, looking between Nate and Brown. "_He _made fifteen girls cry and you're punishing _me_ for throwing a couple of sausages around?" Her throat still hurt a little but she'd managed to get her voice to a pitch only slightly higher than her usual.

Brown threw his hands into the air. "Am I the _only_ person here who knows what 'a couple' means?" he demanded of them. "It means two; three at most. It does _not_ mean fifteen girls and it does _not_ mean starting a canteen-wide food fight and causing half the camp and myself to be covered in gravy from a broken tap!"

"Oh, lighten up, Brownie," Nate snapped, cementing his reputation in Caitlyn's mind for saying the most inappropriate thing.

Naturally, this caused Brown to turn on him giving Caitlyn a moment's breathing space. "I'm not going to 'lighten up,' Nathan. You have a _responsibility _to this camp. You may think being a jerk about everything is part of growing up but it's _not._ Growing up is about taking your responsibilities. It's about either avoiding the girls in the first place or dealing with them maturely."

"And what happens why they leap on you?"

"You come to me, Nate. And those girls _didn't_ leap on you, they asked you for your autograph and said they liked you to which you threatened them with a restraining order and insulted them to their faces."

Caitlyn paused to look at Nate disbelievingly. She found it hard to believe that anyone could be quite _that_ mean but the boy just shrugged without looking even slightly repentant.

"Both of you," Brown continued with a sigh, turning to encompass Caitlyn too. "Have disappointed me and set a very bad example to everyone else here. I would put you both on kitchen duty for the rest of the summer except Caitlyn is already doing it and I can't imagine Nate doing anything but steal the food."

Nate shrugged innocently.

"So from this moment onwards you will both be cleaning the practice huts. This needs to be done in the evening before nine o'clock when the Jams start. It is a choice for the two of you to make as to whether you do it before or after tea. Caitlyn, you chose to help out in the kitchen so it's your duty to ensure your commitments to that don't clash with the tidying, Nate you're still expected to teach all your current classes. Do I make myself clear?"

"What?" Caitlyn stepped forwards slightly. "That's _so_ unfair!"

"Unfair or not, Caitlyn, that's my decision and I'm sticking to it. You are both on cleaning duty until the end of Final Jam."

Except, this year 'until the end of final jam' wasn't a code for anything. It just meant 'all summer.' Caitlyn scuffed the toe of one boot against the floor. "Do I have to do it _with_ him?" she asked, glancing at Nate.

The star turned to glare at her. "Good question," he replied coldly.

Brown paused to look from one to the other. "Yes," he said eventually. "Yes, I think together would be a good way to do it. I'm sure the conversation will make everything over so much quicker. Now, Caitlyn, if I could have a word with Nate and then the two of you can meet in music hut one tonight at around seven. You can eat beforehand and you'll have plenty of time afterwards to get to the pyjama jam tonight."

Caitlyn paused to look between Nate who was glaring at the ceiling, presumably because he could decide who he hated most and Brown who was watching her steadily then she sighed. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll see you tonight then, _Nate._" She turned on her heel and stormed out of the hut, letting the door slam shut behind her.

"What happened?" asked Mitchie running up to her.

"I have to clean all the practice rooms every night from now to the end of summer," Caitlyn replied darkly, moving to walk beside her friend.

Mitchie shrugged. "Well," she offered optimistically. "It could be worse."

"With _Nate,_" Caitlyn added.

Mitchie patted her consolingly on the shoulder. "Let's go down to the lake."

***Nate***

"How long's this going to last?" Nate asked after the door to the cabin slammed. "I mean, I have a _very_ important woodwork class to get to. If I'm not there, Ele will end up calling our invention the Bitwarium or something equally stupid." Well, technically he didn't care what Ele called their stupid musical zoo but if it would get him out of some kind of 'talk' with Brown then even woodwork was a plus.

"Nate," Brown opened in that same caring way that Shane had been using that morning. At one point Nate had thought that that might be a good thing to have so many people care about him. Now all it did was spark questions he wasn't prepared to answer. "Why did you have to make them cry? Couldn't you just _sign_ fifteen autograph books?"

Nate carefully avoided meeting his uncle's eyes, turning around to examine the collection of instruments in the room instead. "It was the principle of the thing," he replied idly. "I mean, if I signed every autograph book that was presented to me then people would present more and more until I was just spending my entire life signing the damn things. Then I would just be like –"

"A pop star?" Brown offered dryly. "What should I tell your fans to do when they want your autograph then?"

"Talk to my agent," Nate offered. "Or send Connect 3 a letter. I have _staff_ to do that kind of thing for me."

"And what about people who want to see the real you. That kid on that TV, he's not who you really are, Nate."

"Funny." Nate turned his head to meet Brown's eyes properly. "Because we look _real_ similar."

"In _there_ Nate." Brown tapped Nate's chest hard above his heart. "What happened to my nephew? What happened to the kid who just _loved_ music?"

Nate spread his arms. "This is him, Brown. This is Nate Grey, this is your nephew, this is _me_ and if that's not good enough for you then maybe you're looking for the wrong guy."

"Nate, at some point you have to realise that everything isn't _always_ about you."

"Well I wish the parts that weren't would start leaving me alone." Nate turned away, glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. "Now I'm late. Do I have permission to blow it off? I mean, Jason might be distracted if I –"

"Nate, were you listening to anything I said?"

"I was listening." Nate lifted Brown's acoustic guitar, running his fingers across the strings before sliding it onto his shoulder. "And I get that all this worked last year when you got all meaningful on Shane and he realised that he was such a terrible, terrible person but I think everyone at this stupid camp is forgetting one very important thing."

"And what's that?"

"I'm _not_ Shane." Nate turned and performed a fairly neat trick where his hand hit the latch of the door at the same moment his foot kicked it open.

He cut across the camp, heading for the hut where, hopefully, Ele and Jason would be too absorbed in their miraculous creations to stop him from just sitting in the corner and playing his guitar.

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn was in hut two of six at seven thirty. She was tired, she wanted to practice for the Pyjama jam tonight and she wanted to be finished by eight a fact which was looking less and less likely as Nate continued to fail to show up.

Then there was a knocking at the door and she glanced around in time to see it open and Nate to fall through it as though someone had pushed him behind. A moment later Jason's new girlfriend's head appeared in the gap. "Caitlyn?" she asked brightly. "Mitchie's friend?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm Ele, I found this one by the lake and I thought he must've got lost somewhere so I offered to escort him to where he was supposed to be." She smiled in complete contrast to the 'if looks could kill' expression on Nate's face. "Are you missing a sulking pop star by any chance?"

Caitlyn couldn't resist smiling slightly, though it was possible she just liked hearing someone else putting Nate down. "Funny," she replied. "I knew I'd misplaced mine somewhere."

Nate glared up at her then stumbled forwards as Ele pushed him again. "See you around, Caitlyn," she called before disappearing and letting the door swing shut behind her.

Nate looked around the room for a moment. "I'm here," he said eventually. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his jeans and she was almost certain that she'd seen the guitar slung across his back in Brown's cabin.

"You're half an hour late. What was so important by the lake?"

"When the music calls," Nate replied in a mocking version of Brown's accent. "You gotta answer." He moved further into the room of his own accord, glancing around. Caitlyn was holding a bin bag in one hand, her hair pulled back into a rough ponytail because she'd assumed Nate wasn't going to turn up and she didn't have to try with her appearance.

Then she realised that she was getting worried about what she looked like in front of Nate Grey and shook herself, thrusting the bin bag towards him to distract herself. "You can do rubbish."

"Yay." Nate took the bag distastefully between two fingers. "I was just thinking what my life lacked was a foul-smelling bag of rubbish. I cannot express how much this makes my day complete."

"Because I'm sure your day has been so _tragic_ so far," Caitlyn retorted, moving to the collection of instrument that someone had strewn across the floor and picking them up to return to the shelves. "I mean, you had all that horrible sleeping to do during your first class." She ticked it off on her finger. "Then you had to eat your lunch and avoid getting covered in food. Oh, I missed out the insulting of fifteen girls. I bet that took _loads_ of effort. Then there was lunch where you had to hide behind a tray then grass up your brother's girlfriend's best friend." She let a handful of triangles fall into a drawer. "Then you had the arduous task of standing still in Brown's hut while he talked and you added spiteful comments to the end of every line. Then you had woodwork and from what I gather you spent that whole class playing guitar. Then you had to eat, then the 'music called' so you had to skive off cleaning duty to play guitar by the lake. No, you're right, you've had a _terrible_ day."

Then Nate ruined the whole rant by saying. "Glad you agree." And sitting down on the table to watch her.

"Rubbish duty?"

"You've already done this hut from the looks of things."

"You could start on the next one."

"I _could,_" Nate agreed. "But then I would lose out on your scintillating conversation _and_ I would be disobeying Brown. Heavens forbid."

"I hate you."

"That's not very nice. I don't even know you."

"Well I could tell you."

"I don't care."

"Has anyone told you you're a jerk?"

"Many times. After a while it just slides off. Are you nearly done?"

Caitlyn knocked the last set of bongo drums to the edge of the room and stalked past him and out of the room without bothering to reply to his question. "You can do huts five and six," she told him sharply, grabbing his wrist to drag him after her and defiantly not noticing how close she was to holding his hand. "On your own. I have things I need to do tonight."

"Brown said we had to do it all together."

"Yeah?" she released his wrist, turning to glare at him and feeling her irritation rise as she had to look up at him. "Well I think the music's _calling_ me."

For a moment he just looked at her with an annoyingly unreadable expression glinting in his brown eyes. Then he smiled and said, "Touché." As though he was winning the argument rather than acquiescing that she had. "So that gives me the pleasure of your company for huts three and four then." He gave her a charming smile which was so contrasting to all she'd seen of him so far that she just stood there for a moment, stunned.

Then she realised he was already halfway down the path and ran after him. Somewhere in the conversation the bin bag had managed to gravitate from his hand to hers. She looked between it and Nate's retreating back slowly for several moments before realising she had just been _completely_ manipulated.

"That was unfair," she complained, jogging until she could walk beside him. "You should be carrying this." She held the bin bag out in front of him but he just side-stepped it gracefully.

"Across camp? Not likely. I'm a pop star, not acleaner."

***Nate***

She thrust the bin bag into his path again. He snarled inwardly as he stepped around it for the second time. "What's your _problem?_" He sped up, taking full advantage of his longer legs to get to the third music hut and duck in through the door. "You got us both into this mess."

He left her to get all righteous and indignant behind him while he glanced around the hut. "So you've got the bin bag, so you can do rubbish." He moved over, picking up a few instruments. This job looked a lot easier.

"You just put a handful of triangles in the tambourine drawer."

Nate glanced at her over his shoulder. She was standing behind the piano, a crisp packet in one hand and watching him with the kind of expression that suggested she was the kind of person who did jobs properly rather than quickly. He hated people like that. "It's a logic puzzle," he replied. "There's a code for instrument locations."

Caitlyn regarded him looking very unimpressed. "What's the code?"

"That's for me to know and you to work out." He grabbed a cowbell and dropped it in a drawer full of miniature cymbals. "I'm done."

Caitlyn glanced up. "What about that guitar?"

"There isn't a drawer labelled guitar."

"So you're just going to leave it in the centre of the room?"

"Seems sensible. I would hate to put it in the wrong place." He crossed the room to lean against the wall by the door and watch her as she finished picking up the rubbish and put the guitar neatly on the shelf above the instruments. Her fingers lingered briefly by the drawers as though she was seriously considering resorting them then she shrugged and headed for the door, leaning against it and holding out the bin bag.

"Next hut," she informed him. "You're on rubbish."

Nate folded his arms, regarding her coolly. "Or what?"

"Or we never get to the next hut." She folded her arms too, leaning against the door and fixing him with a smug expression that said 'get out of this one.'

Of course, the basic mistake she was making was that he desperately wanted to get this cleaning lark out of the way so that he could get to the Pyjama jam. Not likely. He shrugged and crossed the room, picking up the electric guitar from where Caitlyn had left it and running his fingers across the strings. It was out of tune, he began plucking at them experimentally, tuning it by ear. He'd just raised his hand to hit the first chord when there was a cry.

"Wait!"

He glanced up, his hand dropping soundlessly at the strangely high-pitched cry. Caitlyn had stepped away from the door and as he watched she shifted her grip on the bag.

"Whatever," she said in a way that suggested she was trying too hard to be casual. "Fine, I'll stay on rubbish. Let's just go, okay?"

Nate put the guitar down slowly as Caitlyn opened the door for him. He was pretty certain he'd won a victory at this point but it seemed to have happened without his input.

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn followed several meters behind him, the bin bag dragging slightly along the ground behind her as the rubbed her throat with one hand. _Why then? Why did it have to be then?_

Still, Nate's strategy would've been sound even if his guitar hadn't set off the magic helium. She wanted to get to the pyjama jam and, presumably, he didn't.

She hefted the bin bag up higher as she trailed across the camp after Nate's rapidly retreating back. The last thing she wanted was for it to catch on anything.

_Oh no,_ was her first thought upon entering the hut. Nate was already sitting on the piano stool, smiling as he looked over at her. "Most of the instruments were already away. I put the guitar on the shelf like you showed me. So you can sort the rubbish then take the bag down to hut five so I can finish up."

Caitlyn surveyed the hut silently, wondering if the entire world had got together to make this evening as bad as possible. It looked like someone, or a couple of someones, had got together in this particular cabin to have some kind of feast and hadn't bothered to take any rubbish away with them.

She dropped the bag beside the floor then knelt down to pick up the rubbish unable to stop being completely aware of where Nate was sitting, watching her. "If you helped me, this would go _so_ much quicker."

"I put the guitar away." There was a soft scale across the piano which morphed into a complex melody. "We split the jobs evenly, remember."

Caitlyn clenched her fists tightly for a moment before starting to grab handfuls of sweet wrappers and various softer, stickier items that she really didn't _want_ to know about and avoided looking at wherever possible. "So," she said slowly, wondering if an argument would pass the time. "What made you decide to do a solo tour? Tired of living in Shane's shadow?"

"Maybe."

It was annoying how he could give these cocky, casual answers while his fingers moved across the piano in a way Caitlyn would never admit to envying. Shouldn't he be even _slightly_ distracted? "And why did you quit?" she asked, sweeping across the floor with her arms in an attempt to speed everything up. "Decided you weren't as good without your brothers there to back you up? Panicked?"

"Maybe."

"Do you ever say anything else?"

"Do you ever ask decent questions?"

Caitlyn threw her hands up in surrender and turned away. "Fine, whatever. We can just sit here in silence. I thought you were here because you wanted to enjoy my conversation."

"Keep going if you like."

Caitlyn grabbed the last few obvious handfuls of rubbish and thrust them into the bag before pushing herself to her feet. "I'm done," she snapped, kicking the bag towards him. "I'll see you at seven thirty in music hut one tomorrow, okay? Will you be there?"

"Maybe."

Caitlyn glanced at him then made for the door, pausing only to grab the back of his stool and yank it upwards causing Nate to slide off it and fall to the floor looking completely surprised. Finally, his stupid playing had stopped. She stormed out.

***Nate***

_Ow?_ Nate pushed back so he was no longer in a very uncomfortable position on top of the piano's pedals and glanced around in time to see the door swing shut. _What's up with her?_

He pushed himself to his feet, lifting up the piano stool and sitting on it again, resting his fingers on the piano keys. He couldn't remember what he'd been playing before being disrupted and he had a feeling it would be less fun and more boring without Caitlyn there to annoy.

Not that he wanted her there... he just... well, it was no fun to sulk alone unless you had somewhere to write sulking songs or you were somewhere where you could sleep.

He pushed the piano stool back with a sigh and stood up, pushing open the door to the cabin and glancing around. A girl was passing and he called her over. "Hey, what's your name?"

She looked around, glancing over her shoulder as though expecting him to be addressing someone else then her eyes widened and she headed over to him quickly. "Kara." Presumably he hadn't made her cry yet as she was already pulling a pen from her bag. "You're Nate Grey, aren't you? I _love_ your band, I have all their albums _and _your solo album and all the singles and the DVD you released and if you would sign my bag I would be the _happiest_ girl alive."

Nate shuddered inwardly but attempted to smile as he took the pen. "I don't suppose you could help me with a problem, Kara."

Her eyes grew even wider. "Anything," she enthused. "I write songs too sometimes, you know. I could help you write one. I mean... if that's what you wanted..."

"No, it's just there's this rubbish bag in here that needs to be dropped off by the main bins and I'm not going that way."

Kara's face fell dramatically. "Oh..." her eyes fell on the bin bag in question. "Um... well I wasn't planning to go that way either I'm afraid."

Nate shrugged, holding out her pen to give it back. "Okay, sorry I asked."

"Wait, I'll do it." She pulled her hands back as though afraid he'd thrust the pen into them and held out her bag. "Sure I will. I mean, anything for _Nate Grey, _right?"

"Right," Nate agreed slowly, thinking that he wouldn't carry a bag full of rubbish for _anyone._ Still, he pushed the bin bag into her furthest hand and pulled her bag closer to scribble roughly on it a few shapes that if you looked really closely and used quite a lot of imagination might say Nate Grey.

Strangely enough, when she saw it she exploded into a stream of high-speed talking with a smile on her face that suggested she really _was_ the happiest girl alive. Nate shrugged, brushing past her to head back to his cabin. "I'll see you around," she called enthusiastically after him.

_Hopefully not,_ Nate thought grimly but she was getting him out of a horrible task so he raised a hand in farewell. His eyes strayed briefly to music huts five and six but they were probably tidy anyway. It wasn't like tidying them was even a particularly important job. If someone was so vehemently against practising in a dirty room then they could clean it themselves, why should he have to do it?

His thought were in the same vein later that evening as he sat at his bed and his chords angrily.

"_Why should I fight of your demons_

_Not give you the tools to go alone_

_Why should you take all the glory_

_When you didn't do it all on your own."_

He ignored the knock at his cabin door even when it hit again. If it was someone with something interesting to say then, presumably, they'd come in anyway.

Sure enough, moments later Brown pushed open the door and entered the cabin. Nate turned back to his guitar and the notebook open in front of it, ignoring me.

"_Why should I help one more time_

_Be the wind to help you fly_

_When you'll take credit where it aint due_

_And leave me left behind."_

He paused before going into the chorus then sighed, resting his hand on the strings of his guitar to still them and looking up at Brown. "What?"

"Was that from your solo tour?" Brown asked, apparently taking the one accusing word as an invitation to pull out the chair from under the small desk and sit down.

Nate shrugged. "I changed the lyrics," he replied simply. "The original ones were kind of lame."

"I must say I'm impressed. I've gone all afternoon without a single complaint about you. Of course... I haven't seen Caitlyn yet. Did you go to the practice huts?"

"Yes." Nate hit a chord. "I had to put the instruments away, Caitlyn was on litter."

"You seem calmer."

"She's a nice girl." Technically it wasn't a lie... he had no idea what Caitlyn was like. He'd just been trying to annoy her because he was annoyed and then she was annoyed and it had worked out quite well. In reality he was calmer because he was sitting with his guitar and feeling more at peace with the world while it wasn't throwing food at him or leaping on him or asking him to sign things.

"Are you coming to the pyjama jam? Caitlyn's playing and Shane and Jason are already there. You don't even have to wear pyjamas." He sounded like he was almost pleading, offering compromises.

Nate snorted. "Yeah right."

Brown sighed, looking disappointed but not surprised. "Okay," he agreed. "You sit in here by yourself then, superstar. Because you're right, way cooler." He stood up, resting a hand briefly on Nate's shoulder as though trying to say something without using words.

_I'm not doing it because it's cooler,_ Nate found himself thinking as though he needed to make excuses for Uncle Brown expecting too much of him. _I'm doing it because it's safer._

He turned to the door, stopping briefly in the doorway to glance back. "It shouldn't be about anyone else, Nate. Be who you want to be, not who everyone else thinks you are."

"I keep trying and people keep telling me off or yelling or crying."

"That's not _who_ you are, Nate. Think about it." Then he left leaving Nate to hit another chord on his guitar, glance up and then start playing a song which had become familiar to him during the nights of his solo tour.

It had been an interesting way of doing it, they'd agreed. Peggy started the song and then he came in and they did the whole thing in harmony.

"_They tell you to stay calm and quiet_

_No matter what they say_

_Cause it doesn't matter if you're true to yourself no more_

_That you should be happy, excited_

_Even if you're just invited_

_Because the world wants to step back and watch you break._

_It's so hard just waiting_

_In a life that never moves_

_It's time you started breaking_

_All their rules_

_You gotta scream until there's nothing left_

_With your last breath_

_Say here I am_

_Here I am_

_Make em listen_

_Cause there is no way you'll be ignored_

_Not anymore_

_Say here I am_

_Here I am_

_Here I am_

_Here I am_

_Come watch me break."_

The last chord faded slowly into silence.


	7. Chapter 7

How long since an update? Probably too long so, sorry. Shane gains a banjo in this chapter for no reason other than that in my copy th picture used to distinguish him is a banjo (I'm trying to find a reason for it, but it's not working)

This is the first chapter featuring 'The Plan' though it will be no means be the last.

Enjoy

-Ekkah

* * *

Seven

***Jason***

Jason tilted his head to the side to get a different view of Ele's latest drawing. "What happens if the guitar is tilted upside down," he pointed out. "The air holes would be underneath and the fish might fall out."

Ele pulled her drawing back, turning it on its head experimentally. After a moment she glanced up again. "Why would you want to turn your entire guitar upside down?" she asked. "I mean, I understand why you might need to spin around but..."

"Nate," Jason explained. "He goes, like, _crazy_ on stage sometimes. We gave him free range on their guitar solo once and he, like, _leapt_ on his piano. It was _really_ cool only we couldn't play any of the piano pieces after that because he broke it." Jason smiled at the memory, remembering the amount the crowd had cheered and Nate's bright, laughing smile that he hadn't seen in a surprisingly long time now.

Maybe Nate really wasn't happy. He wasn't like Shane who had started smiling and visiting Jams and laughing with them in the evenings when he wasn't complaining. Jason bit his lip, uncomfortable with this line of thought. Why wouldn't Nate be happy? _Did Shane do something? Did _I_ do something?_

"Why are we giving Nate an Aquiturd Wheel, anyway?" asked Ele, putting the drawing down. "I mean, he's not exactly _enthusiastic_ about the idea." She glanced up, apparently instinctively, to the corner of the hut where Nate usually lurked with his guitar when he wasn't off teaching or in one of Brown's lessons where he now had to go occasionally after Ele complained.

"To cheer him up," Jason replied firmly. Maybe that was what he'd done wrong; he hadn't given Nate a guiturd even though the original idea had been his. "I think he's been kind of depressed lately, do you think so?"

Ele shrugged, picking up her pencil and returning to the drawing. "I don't know, I didn't know him before."

Jason regarded his pencil thoughtfully. "I think he is. Maybe I should talk to Shane about it, Shane's usually good at this kind of thing. What do you think?"

"Do we have to talk about your brother?" Ele pushed the second drawing towards him. "We need to discuss hamster wheels, I mean we couldn't have one squeaking on stage."

Jason glanced down at the drawing but he found his spirit wasn't quite in it. If Nate was upset then someone must've done something wrong and Camp Pop wasn't helping... or wasn't helping yet. He thought for a moment that music might help but Nate was playing loads of music. Apparently he was doing basically nothing else in any of his classes. He just sat around with an acoustic guitar and played chords or sat at the piano and played one of his endlessly complicated pieces that he'd learnt when he was seven just to annoy Shane who was still having problems. Of course, Shane hadn't noticed until years later that the pieces were really basic mixed up scales that just happened to sound good without actually being difficult.

"Jason, are you listening to me?"

Jason glanced up, his eyes taking in Ele with her bright blue cookie-monster hoodie, very similar to the red Elmo hoodie that he was wearing (unsurprising, seeing as they'd made them at the same time from Brown's lost property supplies) and sighed. "Sorry," he said, trying to focus on the drawing. "I was just... I don't know..."

Ele sighed. "Thinking about Nate," she provided, pulling the drawing back. "He's not even _in_ here and he still manages to disrupt the class."

Jason shrugged guiltily. It wasn't that he didn't want to work out the mechanics of the Aquiturd Wheel so they could get it made but now he was thinking about Nate and everything seemed more _serious_ than Camp Pop was supposed to be.

"He's your brother," Ele pointed out. "When was the last time you talked to him?"

Jason thought back. "At the start of this session I asked him if he'd had a good class and he told me to shove off and leave him alone. He didn't say anything when he left... the music just stopped and when we looked up a few minutes later he wasn't there anymore."

"Not like that." Ele was focusing on him now, rather than the drawings. "I mean a proper conversation. Without him telling you to shove off or leave him alone or answering in grunts."

Jason glanced at her then thought back again. Nate hadn't said anything at lunch, he'd just sat there sullenly then left before everyone else. Before that was breakfast... but Nate hadn't shown up for that. That meant Pyjama jam the night before... except Nate hadn't been there either and he'd had tea early.

Come to think of it... he couldn't actually remember having a _proper_ conversation with Nate in their entire time at Camp so far. He'd spent most of his time with Ele or with Mitchie and Shane. Nate just seemed to disappear off somewhere. "Do you think I should try to talk to him?"

"I don't think he'll listen to any of us anymore." Ele was smiling again but it wasn't so much bright as calculating. "I think we need to find the person who's had a conversation with him most recently and prompt them to have a conversation again."

Jason thought about this one. "Who did he speak to most recently?" he asked eventually. "It wasn't, like, me or Shane before Camp started, was it?"

"Possibly," Ele acknowledged. "In which case we'll have to change plan but I was thinking... Nate has to clean the practice huts now with Mitchie's friend. Surely they must have talked about _something_."

"That makes sense," Jason agreed. "So you think Caitlyn was the last one to talk to Nate. How do we make them talk again?"

"Well..." Ele pulled a piece of paper towards her, sketching the practice hut thoughtfully as though she needed a visual aid. "Remember when Brown took all the locks off the insides of the practice rooms after Nate locked himself in there and Shane had to borrow the key to get him out?"

Jason nodded slowly.

"If we can get Brown and Dee on board," Ele continued. "Which I'm sure we'll be able to do because everyone wants to stop Nate from whining quite so much, then we can get the keys to the huts. Nate and Caitlyn go into one, we lock the door and hopefully they'll start talking and Caitlyn can stop him being quite so annoying." She looked down at the hut she had drawn. "But we can't tell Caitlyn."

"Why not?"

"Because _no one_ would want to be locked in a room with Nate all night." Ele pushed all the drawings into a pile and slid it onto a shelf. "Let's go and talk to Brown now, then we can catch Mitchie and Shane on the way out of their class and I'll talk to Caitlyn with Mitchie at dinner."

Jason glanced at the pictures and the cardboard prototype Aquiturd Wheel which they had made to experiment with hamster wheel sizes then stood up. They had woodwork again tomorrow. "Okay," he agreed. "Let's go."

***Mitchie***

Mitchie felt a smile dawning on her face. Across the path Shane and Jason appeared to be arguing or debating the ethics or something like that while Shane waved the banjo Andy had given him around like some kind of lasso.

"So do you like it?" finished Ele, her hands finally falling still after the wild gestures of the past few minutes many of which came dangerously close to hitting Mitchie in the face.

Mitchie smiled wider, thinking about Nate trapped in a room all night. She felt kind of sorry for Caitlyn, but maybe they would get on. It was possible that the influence of someone who wasn't one of Nate's fangirls would be calming. "I love it."

"Do you know if Caitlyn talked to Nate last night?"

"I'm not sure... I'm pretty certain she didn't enjoy it because of all the complaining and the hitting things." Mitchie thought back. "She didn't mention what they talked about but I guess they must've said _something_ because otherwise how would he have annoyed her so much. Oh, there was something about Practice hut four... I think it was just messy."

"I think we should lock them in hut two. Nate should've arrived by then... I'll send Jason to go pick him up after dinner. He usually hides out by the lake or near the kitchens. Hey, do you want to go see Brown with us? We could head over and Jason and Shane can join us in a minute. We need to _plan._"

Mitchie nodded, starting to head in that direction. "So," she said after a moment. "You and Jason... Jason and you..."

"Jason and me?" replied Ele, sounding innocently confused.

"Yeah," Mitchie agreed but Ele just continued to look at her as though she had no idea what was going on. She sighed, apparently subtlety wasn't working here. "Are you going out," she asked slowly. "Or what?"

"Oh." Ele blushed visibly. "Oh... I mean... um..." She fiddled uncertainly with the sleeve of her blue hoodie. "Well... he hasn't _asked_ or anything, I mean... he doesn't have a girlfriend. I don't think." She glanced up at Mitchie, her expression growing more panicked. "He doesn't, does he?"

Mitchie smiled slightly. "No," she reassured Ele. "Not unless it's you."

"Oh. Well I don't think it's me... it's not me unless he asks, right? Except I don't think Jason's the kind of person who _asks._" She bit her lip, glancing over her shoulder at where Shane and Jason were still standing. "Do you think I should ask him? How do you answer a question like this?"

"Do you _want_ to be going out?" asked Mitchie.

"Yes," replied Ele, distractedly. "Of course I do, he's cute and he's funny and we like all the same things and he made me a Cookie Monster hoodie and..." she trailed off, turning to look at Mitchie again her expression shifting from panicking to realisation. "Oh," she said again.

"Oh," Mitchie agreed, smiling slightly.

"Do you think he'll ask me out? I'd say yes."

"You really like him."

"I've never met anyone _like_ him before," Ele said slowly, glancing back again. "Is this what it's like with Shane?"

"I think so."

"We have to find someone for Nate." Ele turned back, her smile even brighter than usual and a bounce in her step. "I mean, if he was in love... I mean, if he liked someone then maybe he wouldn't be so grouchy."

Mitchie smiled and followed her along the path to Jason's house, wondering how Shane was getting on.

***Shane***

"You have a banjo!" was Jason's opening statement though the way he had pulled Shane away from Mitchie suggested that this wasn't the main topic they were supposed to be discussing. "I always wanted a banjo!"

Shane glanced down at the banjo in his hand and grinned. "Andy gave it to me in thanks for being 'a far better teacher than that brother of yours who just sits in the classroom and plays guitar.' It's pretty cool."

"I wish my students gave me things."

"Jason, you only _have_ one student."

"Two if you count Nate!"

"_Why_ would you count Nate?"

Jason shrugged. "He's my brother," he offered as though this might be a valid reason.

_Wait, has Nate started manipulating people? Because he's actually kind of good at that... what have we let the Camp in for?_ "He doesn't show the _slightest_ bit of enthusiasm. He just complains all the time."

"We think he's depressed," Jason interrupted, apparently unaware that Shane had been intending to go on. "Me and Ele. Well... mostly me... but she came up with the Plan."

Shane dropped his head against his banjo. "There's a plan?" Then he had to stand there while Jason attempted to explain something that he didn't seem to understand very well involving Caitlyn, Nate and a locked music room which Shane supposed _would_ be fairly amusing but he wasn't entirely sure of its curing-Nate-of-his-depression properties and he wasn't sure that Caitlyn would approve even slightly. He didn't know her that _well_ but so far no one he'd met (except the fangirls Nate hadn't made cry yet, but they didn't count) would've approved of being locked in a room with Nate overnight.

"You really think this is a good idea?" he asked when Jason finally paused. "You think Brown will _agree_ to this?"

Jason smiled. "It's to help Nate," he pointed out.

_To help him what? Hate us all even more? _He swung the banjo pensively from side to side. "What about Caitlyn?" he asked eventually. "Is she just going to agree to this?"

"We're not going to tell her. It's only one night after all, what's the worst that could happen?"

Shane immediately got a mental picture of his brother and Caitlyn waving guitars at each other's throats. "Caitlyn isn't the _most_ responsible person we could lock him up with," he pointed out as tactfully as he could. Not that he knew much about Caitlyn except that she had a certain gift for getting herself into food fights.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know her so well and they've already talked because they're cleaning the practice huts together. Plus, maybe they'll get on really well and then it would be cool because we'd all have met someone. You've got Mitchie and now I've got Ele." He glanced over but Ele and Mitchie had already headed off. "Nate probably feels really left out. I bet he'll get on well with Caitlyn."

"What prompted this?" Shane asked, swinging the banjo while trying to sort his thoughts. He _wanted_ to go through with the plan but he also felt like he had to play the mature brother and realise that he only wanted to go through with it to annoy Nate.

"I was just thinking about it in Woodwork," Jason replied casually. "I was thinking about Nate and how he seems kind of depressed and how Camp Pop doesn't seem to be helping then I talked about it to Ele and she pointed out that none of us have really _talked_ to him for ages. Except, maybe, Caitlyn. He doesn't like most girls and most of the guys I know seem to want to hit him so we thought Caitlyn would be good because he might've talked to her before and she's not overly fond of him."

_Wow,_ Shane thought, kind of surprised. _He's actually put quite a lot of thought into this. He's also right, I suppose... we haven't been neglecting Nate we've just... well I've been spending time with Mitchie and Jason's been working on this Aquiturd Wheel. Him and Nate haven't been talking much... they haven't had any of their long pointless arguments since... since the solo tour. _

"Well?" asked Jason anxiously. "Do you think it'll work, the plan?"

"I think..." Shane spoke slowly to give himself more time to decide. "I think," he repeated. "It might be worth a try. But I want another chance to try and talk to Nate first. Maybe you're right, maybe he is lonely."

_Have I been neglecting him? He's my brother..._

"Thank you!" Jason hugged him close. "You're the best, Shane. The plan won't let you down! Are you coming with us to see Uncle Brown?"

Shane raised the banjo. "I need to drop this in our cabin. Tell Brown I said it was cool. I'll talk to Nate after dropping off the banjo, his class should've just finished, then I'll tell you at tea if the plan's on or not. Okay?"

Jason nodded, grinning widely. "Ele will be so happy."

"Oh, about you and Ele, is she your girlfriend?"

Jason looked surprised for a moment. "Yes," he replied, as though it was obvious. "Of course. See you at dinner."

Shane watched him go with a small smile then turned away to head back to his cabin.

***Mitchie***

"It'll work," Ele pleaded as Brown regarded them with an expression of complete bemusement. "I mean, Jason's right, all Nate needs is someone who he can talk to."

"And can you reassure me that Nate and Caitlyn won't go straight for each other's throats?" Brown asked, surveying the three of them. "Caitlyn has a history of starting fights."

"Yeah," Mitchie interrupted. "But only food fights and the second one was my fault really. I was annoying her and she needed to lash out."

"And Nate won't annoy her?"

"Um..." Mitchie bit her lip uncertainly. As far as she could tell Caitlyn hated Nate and Nate hated Caitlyn (Well... Nate hated everyone, but it accounted for the same). "Well she's probably used to him by now... a bit."

"Nate's not stupid," Jason pointed out suddenly, surprising all of them.

"What?" asked Ele in surprise, looking around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jason looked slightly self conscious but continued anyway. "He's not stupid," he repeated. "You're all kind of acting like he doesn't realise when what he says is annoying so he'll annoy Caitlyn just because that's who he is but it's not. I've been thinking about it and he's been like his before but usually just for fun. He can be charming as well when he wants to be but when he's not trying to be anything he's not annoying... he's just fun, he's nice. And he's not stupid. He'll realise that if he's going to be trapped with Caitlyn for a long time he shouldn't annoy her because it'll just make the whole process more arduous."

Mitchie found herself staring at Jason in something approaching shock. She'd never known him to talk seriously for this long, and he seemed to have really _thought_ this out unlike the rest of them who were, most likely, just trying to get back at Nate for being so annoying.

"So I think it'll work," Jason finished uncomfortably. "Because he's Nate and he's my brother and that's what he's like. I know him."

Brown regarded him for a moment then sighed. "God only knows why I'm agreeing to this," he said eventually. "Perhaps it's because they're both trying my patience at the moment. I'm sure it wouldn't kill either of them to show some enthusiasm in my class but no." He sighed and pulled a ring of keys from a drawer of his desk. Mitchie reached out to take them but he pulled back. "You are to give these _directly_ to Shane and the Plan only goes ahead with his full co-operation. Understand?"

Mitchie nodded enthusiastically and the keys dropped into her hand. _Yes!_ The three of them grinned their thanks at Brown before running outside where Mitchie and Ele hi-fived enthusiastically then Ele flung herself at Jason.

"You were _awesome!_" She wrapped her arms enthusiastically around him. "And it was really cool standing up for Nate like that even if I disagree but you're right, I don't know him like you do."

"If he cheers up," Jason said, beaming as he extricated his arms so he could hug Ele back. "We'll all write a song together and you'll see how awesome he can be."

Mitchie coughed by accident and Jason and Ele sprung apart as though she'd fired some kind of cannon, both turning bright red.

"Sorry," they said quickly at the same time. "I mean..." Jason looked down at the same moment Ele looked pleadingly at Mitchie. "What do I do?" she mouthed.

Mitchie shrugged apologetically. _I'm not good at romantic advice,_ she thought to herself. _I mean, all I had to do was sing 'This is Me' with Shane and everything kind of sorted itself out._ "Ele," she said, grabbing the girl's blue-clad arm. "Let's go get some food and talk to Caitlyn. Jason, see you later, okay?" She moved off quickly towards the canteen, almost having to drag Ele behind her.

"You're not _helping,_" Ele hissed when they were slightly further out of earshot. "What did you pull me away for?"

"You were panicking," Mitchie replied, turning down a path which wouldn't get them to the canteen quicker but _would_ get them out of Jason's sightline. "And so was he. Just give it some time and I'll talk to Shane and we'll get all of this sorted."

"Sorted? What do you mean sorted?"

"I mean we will get you instated to your rightful place as Jason's girlfriend since everyone except _you_ already thinks you are."

Ele's eyes widened and she pulled back towards the main path apparently to get another look at Jason. "You're right, we're not are we. What if he meets someone else? What if he meets someone he likes more than me? What if he doesn't like me at all?"

"He likes you," Mitchie said firmly, suddenly feeling far more sympathetic towards Caitlyn who had had to listen to all her Shane worries last year. "And there is _no one_ in the whole _world_ let alone this camp who is more suited for him than you. Okay?"

Ele nodded meekly but didn't look even slightly convinced. "Okay."

"Come on, let's go find Caitlyn."


	8. Chapter 8

_More! Finally! (:_

* * *

Eight

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn headed out of the canteen with a sigh, throwing her apple up and down. She'd picked it up pretty much entirely for this purpose, she had no intention of eating it. _Yeah, Mitchie. 'We'll meet up at seven for dinner.' Good to know I can trust you._ She glanced at her watch but there was no way of denying that it was already seven thirty. Mitchie clearly wasn't coming and she had to go to the practice huts for another couple of hours with Moody.

She couldn't even assume Mitchie was with Shane because Shane had been eating with Nate. She knew because he chair happened to be facing in that direction (no other reason) that they'd been having what looked like a very one-sided conversation which neither seemed to be particularly enjoying. When Caitlyn left they'd still been at it so she could only assume that Nate was going to be late _again._

_This time,_ she vowed silently. _I won't start until he gets there._

Except, she would probably get bored. Unlike Nate she needed a laptop to mess around properly and she didn't want to put her very expensive technology anywhere _near_ Nate Grey. Not if she could help it.

"Caitlyn!"

Great. Here was Mitchie, far too late, with her new best friend. The new best friend was wearing a large blue hoodie with the hood pulled up to reveal a pair of eyes and a pair of ears. Some kind of furry monster appeared to be the theme and Caitlyn was sure she'd seen Jason sporting a red version of the same jumper earlier that morning. Caitlyn stopped with a sigh, to meet them. "I need to get to the music huts," she said coldly. "I'm meeting Nate."

"He'll be late," Mitchie dismissed with a wave of her hand. "We wanted to talk to you."

So that was it. No 'sorry I didn't see you at dinner' or 'Oh yeah, I'll be quick then if you've somewhere to go.' Just a wave of the hand and a dismissal of all Caitlyn's commitments because a conversation with Mitchie and the New Best Friend was _so_ much more important.

"We met yesterday," said the new best... okay, Ele, holding out a sleeve-covered hand and smiling nervously. "I brought Nate to see you. I heard your music last evening, it was really good."

Caitlyn was finding Ele's personality was really getting in the way of hating her to stealing Mitchie away. It was like she was so bouncy it was _impossible_ to dislike her. _Maybe I should ask Nate for some advice. I bet he hates her. _Still, she smiled and reached out to take Ele's sleeve in her hand. "Thanks. I'm Caitlyn."

"We need to talk about Nate," Mitchie cut across because, apparently, her concerns about the Moody Jerk were more important than meetings and her friends making friends.

"I'm going to spend the next hour and a bit talking _to _Nate," she replied wearily. "Can't I at least avoid all mention of him before and afterwards?"

"So you talk to him?" Mitchie prompted as though this had any relevance to _anything._ "Does he reply?"

"If you could 'maybe' as a reply." She paused but Mitchie and Ele were still looking at her as though expecting her continue. "Yes!" she shouted angrily in the hope it would convince them to go away. "We had many fascinating conversations about who should carry the rubbish and he did impressions of Brown and played the piano. Now I must go because he said he might be there on time and I therefore must be in hut one waiting to meet him because I would _hate_ to miss out on more of his company. Mitchie, I'll see you tonight unless you have somewhere _better_ to be." She pushed between the two of them and stormed off down the path.

No one called after her. She heard a slap as though the two of them had hi-fived and felt angry tears well up. _Great game, guys. How long does it take to get Caitlyn so annoyed she'll storm off? Well, I'm glad you're both so _happy_ together._

She side tracked, heading for the toilets on her way. The _last_ thing she needed was for Nate to know she'd been crying.

***Mitchie***

Mitchie slapped Ele's hand, grinning broadly. "You heard her," she said brightly, barely noticing that Caitlyn had pushed between them. "They talked, they had _conversations._ He was doing impressions and playing the piano. He's not that friendly with _anyone_ else."

Ele glanced around. "She left quickly."

Mitchie shrugged. "Well," she said, her smile widening suggestively. "She doesn't want to be late to meet _Nate_, does she?" She laughed, grabbing Ele's arm to pull her towards the canteen. They were almost there when Nate stormed out, apparently heading for the practice huts. He went straight between them, breaking their hold.

"Watch it!" Ele shouted after him but he didn't turn.

Mitchie watched his disappear for a moment then turned to Ele, smiling again. "I think," she said slowly. "The Plan is on." She thrust the key into Ele's hand. "Go after him, now."

Ele grinned, clutched it tight and ran off.

***Nate***

Nate dropped his guitar off in the first practice room on his way to the canteen after his session with Brown. The session that Brown had _picked him up_ from Jason's woodwork class to take him to. Being a rebellious teenager was one thing but being escorted _everywhere_ was getting kind of ridiculous. This hour between finishing his last class and someone hunting him down to drag him back onto cleaning duties felt like all the free time he had.

And all those people who pointed out that he'd have two extra hours if he woke up earlier were clearly deluding themselves on an _epic_ scale to even _consider_ that that could be an option. He rested the guitar carefully on a shelf, that way Caitlyn would have _no_ excuse to tidy it away to somewhere where he'd never see it again.

Then he was all out of ways to kill time. It was one thing to enjoy music, it was another entirely to be stuck in a stupid camp when there was nothing else to do all day and all night. He must have written more songs than ever before. Of course, if a few more of them were something other than just him complaining or used an instrument _other_ than an acoustic guitar they might've been fairly decent but he couldn't be bothered to find an amp for his electric and the pianos were all too grand-pianoey.

He left the music room, wondering idly what there would be for pudding as he headed across the paths to the canteen. Maybe there would be cupcakes again. If there was no other food in the world except Mitchie's mum's cupcakes he would be in _complete_ heaven. And Shane was allergic to them, because he had his stupid food allergies list that their manager always 'forgot' to send places.

Nate ignored all calls, cries to sit at his table, and basically all other sounds when he entered the hall. The girl from the night before waved brightly but he just aimed for the food and grabbed a plate, heading over to the serving hatch where Mitchie's mum smiled at him.

"First one from your group in tonight," she remarked, apparently still unaware that trying to be friendly wouldn't work. "Do you think the others are all off somewhere?"

"I don't care," he muttered, pushing his plate further forwards in the hope that would give her the idea. She picked it up but then proceeded to wave it thoughtfully, looking at him.

"You're Nate, aren't you? The youngest?"

"Yeah, and the best looking. Can I have some food?"

"Mitchie doesn't like you all that much."

"It's my award winning personality. Most people can't appreciate it and I didn't give you that plate so you could play with it. I gave it to you because I've been awake since far too early and I want to _eat_ before I have to run off an pander to the needs of the establishment."

She looked slightly affronted but flattened the plate and lifted a dollop of something from a pan. "What's the magic word, Nate?"

He leant closer. "The magic word," he replied slowly. "Is give me my dinner before I call my agent." He knocked the plate out of her hands and turned away to see that Shane had just entered the room. Shockingly, the Girlfriend wasn't with him and he headed straight for Nate.

"Hey, mate," he said surprisingly brightly, one hand sliding around Nate's shoulders. Nate ducked away, stepping back to eye him warily. "What's up?"

"Where's Mitchie?"

"With Ele and Jason. Hey, is that spaghetti, Mrs Torres?" He moved past Nate to lean against the hatch and smiled winningly. "I don't suppose you could spare us a little, please? My brother has cleaning to do."

Nate turned around irritably. "I'll be at the table," he muttered. "Get some cakes if they have them. I need sugar for tonight."

"Are you going to stay up late writing again?" Shane turned away from the hatch. "Because, you know, the mornings would be a _lot_ easier if you went to bed before, say, one?"

Nate shrugged, walking away. _I _like_ one in the morning. It's _quiet. _Which is more than I can say for any other times on this Camp._ Moments later, Shane caught up with him carrying two plates of pasta and a distinct lack of sugar. "Cupcakes?" he asked.

"After you've finished, maybe." Shane pushed one of the plates into Nate's hands. "And maybe when you're polite to someone, I'm tired of having conversations with people in which they remark that you're 'interesting.' And that's just the nice ones."

"I'm just such a _fascinating_ person." Nate hooked out a chair with his foot and sat down with his back to everyone else in the room. Shane crossed around the table to take the seat opposite him in a manner which suggested they had something to Discuss.

_What have I done now?_ Nate ran through the events of the day. As far as he could see his main travesties had been being impolite to Mitchie's mum and arriving to his dance class an hour late. (He'd overslept. Maybe Shane wasn't _entirely_ wrong about the whole staying up until two thing.) He decided the best course of action for the moment was to turn to his plate and the heap of food that lay upon it like a mysterious type of fungi. His stomach gave an uneasy lurch but he'd barely eaten any of his lunch and if he carried on like this then he couldn't have the strength to fight off fangirls. He lifted his fork in one hand and poked it experimentally.

"We haven't talked properly in a while," Shane was saying importantly. "Have we, Nate?"

Nate shrugged and lifted his knife as well, manoeuvring them both into position above the plate. _Here goes nothing._

"I was talking to Jason earlier; he says you haven't been talking to him either. We're both worried about you."

_Fun._ Nate pushed his fork into the pile and twisted it experimentally, the way they always ate spaghetti in films. _I hate pasta._

"I've been dismissing it, I know, but I guess it's just because I was so excited to be here and... well... you haven't exactly gone out of your way to try and fit in or get on with anyone here."

Nate lifted his fork and watched the spaghetti drop unenthusiastically back onto his plate. _Well that didn't work. _He glanced over at Shane's plate but his brother appeared to be ignoring his food entirely in favour of the Talk.

"But Jason's been thinking and his thoughts got me thinking and I'm your brother and you should feel like you can talk to me, Nate."

Nate pushed his knife against the pile, cutting a small section off and attempting to scoop it up.

"I haven't seen you smile in a long time."

The simple statement caught Nate off guard and he glanced up from his plate in surprise as the mouthful fell off his fork and back to the masses. Shane, however, wasn't looking at _him_ anymore, he was looking down at his hands uncomfortably.

"Remember our first headlining tour, when you and Jason were always laughing and arguing and you broke three pianos before we could get one reinforced because you never _listened_ when we told you not to jump on the stupid thing."

Nate turned back to his plate quickly as Shane looked up. The mouthful had fallen off his fork so he tried again, pushing it on with his knife.

"You and Jason used to argue all the time over _nothing. _You had a three day debate complete with two essays and no conclusion over the correct colour of _cheese._"

_Yellow,_ Nate provided silently, lifting the fork to his mouth and managed to only lose half the contents on the way. He ate it off the fork quickly before anymore could slip away and shuddered at the slimy texture. _Yuck._

"What happened to my brother, Nate? When did he go away and leave you in his place?"

Nate tried the same technique again, this time moving quicker and managed to get an almost decently sized mouthful. _Wow._

"Nate, are you even _listening _to me?"

_Not by choice?_

"Look I'm trying to make this better, okay? Do you feel neglected?"

"Not right now," Nate replied. "You keep talking to me."

"And you keep not talking back!" Shane was half standing up when he seemed to realise he was being loud and sank down, reverting to a loud whisper instead. "Look, the point of bringing you out here was to help you, not so you could cut yourself off even further from everybody."

Nate looked up from his food. "It's a _camp_, Shane. Not a rehab centre for troubled pop stars."

"We used to love this place, Nate," Shane moved back to settle fully in his own seat. "We formed a band here, you started writing songs which we could all play together. Where we could be _brothers."_

_Yes, Shane, I started writing songs here. It wasn't the atmosphere and it wasn't the people, it was the fact that I hated being away from home and I hated the food and I hated the people and it was something to take me away from all that._ He pushed his spaghetti around and didn't say anything.

"Come on, Nate. Why cut yourself off? Are you happier? Is it _fun_ to sit alone in your cabin night after night and spend all your sessions sitting with a guitar? Do you like not smiling anymore or talking to anyone because I can't help thinking that you can't really enjoy being who you are now than who you were before."

_Why does everyone keep talking like I've been abducted by aliens and replaced by someone else?_ Nate pushed his fork through his food. He didn't _want_ to admit that Shane was right. He didn't _want_ to have to say that he liked being on his own sometimes but after all these weeks he just wanted... he had _no_ idea what he wanted. Maybe he wanted to design aquiturd wheels or meet people but his pride wouldn't let him back down now.

"You can't go on like this. How long are you going to cut yourself off from all your friends? We all _want_ to talk to you, we _want_ to help you."

"Really?" Nate looked up, meeting Shane's eyes. "Because I could've _sworn_ you all just wanted to play in the Jams and design stupid guitars and laugh at me. I could've _sworn_ you arranged all this just for your 'payback' and so you could spend all your time with your girlfriend. I could've _sworn_ you didn't want me in your class because you thought I was annoying and I complained too much."

Shane looked shocked for a moment then he leant forwards. "Don't be such an idiot," he retorted sharply. "All of that was just because you were being a complete jerk. It was to _help_ you."

"And it did such a bang up job. I think you ought to pat yourself on the back."

"I can't be expected to do _everything_, Nate! You have to put some kind of effort in too! We're here for you!"

"Because you've always been there, Shane, haven't you." Nate pushed his plate out of the way. "When we arrived I was attacked by fangirls and you were there helping... oh, wait, no that was wrong."

"We'd just arrived, of course I wanted to see my friends."

"You've done nothing but see your friends since we got here." Nate stabbed his fork angrily into the table. "You know I hate fangirls, you know I've been nervous around people ever since that night at the gig but you just left me to fend for myself because that's what happened to you. Well I wasn't like you, you _knew_ that. I didn't decide that being a pop star made me better than everyone else. I got attacked on stage with all _your_ people watching and so your solution is to put me in a camp where people I don't know can get at me at all hours." At some point during his tirade he'd stood up. "Well, good job, Shane. Congratulations, you came up with the _worst_ plan in history and I'm not surprised. I don't _want_ to talk to anyone, I don't _want_ to broaden my horizons. I'm happier this way and I'm going to stay this way." He turned away.

"Nate, wait, I need to talk to you. What did you say? About the gig?"

_God knows, I wasn't paying attention._ "Sorry," he replied coldly. "But Caitlyn's waiting for me." People drew back from the pathways between the tables as he stormed past. The main doors were open and when he stepped through he saw Ele and Mitchie. He pushed angrily between them, separating their hold on each other and ignored it when they called after him.

He would have to _go _to the music huts. That would, hopefully, prevent anyone from wanting to hunt him down tonight which meant he only had to endure Caitlyn's company for a few hours before he could return to his privacy and pull back inside his shell.

_You wanted a conversation,_ he thought angrily at Shane. _How was that? I hope you enjoyed it because I can assure you I'm _never_ talking to you again._

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn had been in the hut for only a few minutes, long enough to survey the room and wonder where the extra guitar had come from, when the door slammed open and shut behind her.

She turned in surprise and saw Nate leaning back against the wood of the door, his hands clenched into fists and his hair falling into his eyes in places. He glanced up briefly and met her eyes, glaring.

She held out the bin bag without much hope but he snatched it obediently from her fingers and proceeded to kick all the rubbish in the room into a small pile in the centre. "I wasn't expecting you this early," she said, picking up the instruments before he could kick those too.

Nate grunted, apparently unable to stretch to any kind of conversation tonight. Caitlyn sighed, dropping a handful of triangles into a drawer. It was going to be a _long_ evening.

She ended up carrying the bin bag when they headed for the door once the hut was clean. Maybe it would work as a compromise though, if she carried the bag but he did the rubbish. She reached out for the handle, pulling it down possibly more sharply than necessary and pulling back. Then pulling back harder.

_This is not good..._

"Hurry up," Nate snapped behind her, apparently capable of speech after all.

"Jerk," she said slowly, using it as a name as she twisted the handle the other way and kicked the door experimentally.

"What?"

"I think the doors locked."

_Please no..._


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter nine (: Nate and Caitlyn locked in a room where they can hate each other all night if they want to (: The Plan in action (:_

_Nice reviews make me update (:_

Nine

***Nate***

"I think by now we have established that it's not going to open however much you kick it," Caitlyn pointed out, sounding bored.

Nate kicked the door one last time for luck but it held annoyingly firm. He turned away, leaning against it and sinking to the ground. "Great. This is _just_ the way I wanted to spend my evening."

"Hey, I had other plans too. And none of them involved _you_ I'm happy to say."

"Whatever, pass me that guitar." He nodded to his guitar which still lay where he'd left it on the shelves. "Then if you can be really quiet and pretend you're not there, this might be endurable."

Caitlyn glanced over at the shelves from her position on the piano stool. "No way. Get it yourself, Jerk."

"Oh, and I have a name." Nate pushed himself up, crossing the room and pushing himself up until he could sit on top of the drawers and rest his guitar in his lap.

"Yes, but I don't respect you enough to use it."

Nate struck a chord. "How long do you think it'll be until someone rescues us?" he asked.

"What I want to know is how the door locked itself in the first place. It's not exactly easy, it would require a key..." Caitlyn trailed off, her face suddenly caught in comprehension. Nate looked up from his guitar.

"What?" he asked slowly.

"Those..." Caitlyn's expression shifted quickly to anger. "Those stupid, thoughtless..."

"What are you _talking_ about?"

"Mitchie," Caitlyn snapped as though this as an explanation rather than just someone's name. "Mitchie and her new best friend, Ele or whatever. I bet Shane and Jason were in on it too."

"In on what?" asked Nate, though he was already getting an idea and not particularly liking it.

"Well they were asking me if I talked to you while we were in here."

_And Shane was getting worried that I wasn't having conversations with anyone... _"Tell me you said no."

"Well they were _annoying_ me so much and I just came out with it, it was sarcastic but... I don't know... they seemed excited when I left. God, I'm going to kill them."

"Get in line." Nate kicked his foot back against the drawers he was sitting on causing it to rock and rattle satisfactorily. "God, I knew Shane didn't want to just have a stupid heart to heart. I _knew_ it."

"What do they _want?"_ Caitlyn was asking, still talking to herself. Apparently she found herself better conversation than Nate.

_Hah,_ he thought angrily at his absent elder brother. _We're not going to have a single stupid _conversation _you idiot._ "I think," he replied, strumming the first angry chord he could think of. "They want us to _talk._ Shane thinks I'm not having enough conversations with people."

Apparently having the answer wasn't going to cheer Caitlyn up because she looked over his with an expression of disbelief. "And I'm what?" she asked him loudly as though he might know. "Just someone 'convenient' to be played with? Does it not _matter_ what I feel about this? Oh, of course not, I bet Mitchie's off with her New Best Friend even now laughing about how much they're messing up _your_ life. Does anyone even _care_ about _my _life?"

"I don't," Nate reassured her. "So if you wouldn't mind quieting down a little."

"And I _hate_ you," Caitlyn added, turning to focus on him and continue her rant. "Why couldn't they have locked one of your stupid, deluded fangirls in here with you? I'm sure they would've – Stop playing that damn guitar when I'm talking to you!"

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn took a deep breath, trying to cool her windpipe. _It's an acoustic guitar,_ she shouted inwardly in case whatever the source of this mysterious power was was listening. _And anyway, the _last_ person I _ever_ want to help is Nate Grey._ At some point the music had stopped and she glanced over to see Nate was leaning on his guitar and watching her. "Fine," he agreed with the silky tone the recognised from when he was manipulating her the night before. Maybe he was incapable of being nice without being condescending. "What would _you_ like to do?"

"I want to get out!" she shouted, annoyed that he was being so _calm_ when all she wanted to do was scream at something and maybe break a few things. She turned to the piano, hitting it. "I want to run away and pretend I never had to _see_ you again after final Jam last year."

"I want food."

The phrase was so completely out of context with everything that had happened that Caitlyn turned around in surprise and saw Nate peering, apparently completely calmly, around the room. "You just ate dinner," she reminded him though the urge to destroy had faded in her surprise.

"No," Nate corrected, kicking open the drawer by his right foot as though he imagined tambourines were edible. "_You_ just ate dinner. I hate spaghetti."

"Well you still should've _eaten _something."

"It all fell off my fork."

Caitlyn felt the urge to laugh and fought it down irritably. _He's not supposed to make me laugh,_ she thought, glaring sidelong at Nate as though this was all his fault. "You just stick your fork in and turn it."

"Tried that." He kicked the drawer shut casually, as though this was just a normal conversation. "Didn't work."

"Well how do you normally eat spaghetti?"

Nate shrugged. "I don't _like_ spaghetti," he informed her, adding even more to the growing list of 'things Nate Grey doesn't like' which so far seemed to include such treasures as 'the human race.'

"What you don't like could fill several canyons," she replied wearily, leaning back in the stool to rest her head against the back wall. Now all the rage and frustration was gone (all Nate's fault, as always) she felt kind of empty. Plus _very_ bored and with the prospect of many more hours of boredom lying ahead.

She glanced at her watch. It was eight o'clock. They'd been here for thirty minutes and she had already narrowly resisting braining Nate with a bongo drum many times. She ran her fingers across the piano keys. If she'd been on her own she _might_ have started playing it but with Nate in the room and unable to shake off the memory of him playing last night her self-conscious streak took hold and she just rested her fingers on the keys, waiting for him to speak.

What felt like an hour later but was actually (according to her watch) seven and a half minutes she gave up ad turned away from the piano to look at Nate who was swaying slightly from side to side.

For a moment she thought he was listening to an MP3 player and was tempted to yell 'that's cheating!' before she remembered there wasn't any kind of competition going on and he didn't have anything anyway. Maybe he was just better at entertaining himself than she was. Well, he was definitely more used to spending time cooped up in his room on his own. "So..." she said slowly, hoping he would jump in so it wouldn't be like she was _initiating_ a conversation.

He glanced up and, thankfully, stopped bouncing. "So what?"

"So... what do we do now?"

Nate flicked a string on his guitar, apparently seriously considering the question. Maybe he _had_ been bored after all. "Well," he said eventually. "This _is_ a music camp. You're sitting at a piano, I'm holding a guitar, we're in a music hut..."

_Wait... is he about to suggest we write a song? Isn't he all protective of his art? How bored _is_ he? _"And you're point?" she asked slowly.

He shrugged. "No point. Maybe we could play hangman."

Caitlyn kicked the piano lightly. "E," she offered. _Great,_ she found herself thinking. _I'm locked in a music hut playing _hangman_ without paper and with Nate Grey. My life has reached a new low._

Even worse was the knowledge that many of her friends would probably kill to get where she was right now. She had no idea why.

***Nate***

Nate glanced down at his wrist and regretted for what must've been the hundredth time in the past who knew how long his decision to not bother with a watch. Of course, at the time he'd been spending all his time with Shane and Jason both of whom had working watches and it had seemed like a waste of time.

Now, however, it meant he had to swallow his pride _again_ and actually ask Caitlyn for help. "What time is it?" he snapped, interrupting her soft muttering of all the three letter words she could think of.

She glanced up, then at her watch, then back at him again. "About ten to nine, we've been playing hang man for almost an hour. Van."

"No. You're out." Nate drummed his fingers on the guitar beside him. "We played noughts and crosses in the middle. We could've carried on with that except _you_ had issues visualising it."

"You were cheating! And I think you're still cheating I just have no idea how to prove it."

Nate smiled innocently. "You should've brought paper," he pointed out. After all, it wasn't his fault he kept forgetting all his moves and having to move them into places where he _coincidently_ ended up winning every time.

"Well I didn't exactly anticipate this, did I?"

"Pity." Nate picked up his guitar from where it was lying beside him and slung the strap back over his shoulder. "I think we should change game."

"Scared I'm going to beat you?" asked Caitlyn, but she turned back to the piano apparently as mind numbingly bored of these games as he was.

"Oh please." Nate started to tune the guitar carefully, still unsure of what he was planning to do with it. "I spend half my life _living_ in a tour bus with two brothers. I will beat you at hangman, I spy, charades and any other game you can think of. If it can be played in a moving bus, I've played it." He ran his fingers across the strings, checking the notes. Satisfied, he looked up at her. "What are we playing?"

Caitlyn ran a finger across the piano. "I wasn't aware we were playing anything."

"Have you got anything better to do?" He paused for a few moments so she could not reply. "Precisely. Do you know any songs by Connect 3?"

"Not well. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one, but I don't actually _like_ your music. I can just about remember 'Play My Music' from last year, but I can't play it."

_Great._ Nate sighed and started playing Shane's song from Camp Rock the year before. To his surprise, after only a few moments Caitlyn came in with an elaborate tune on the piano.

_She's good,_ he found himself thinking in surprise. _How did she come up with that so quickly?_

"_I've always been the kind of girl that hid my gifts."_

Realisation dawned and Nate changed his playing very slightly to compensate for the different song. _Of course, she was playing keyboard during Mitchie's fairy-tale ending last year._

"_So afraid to tell the world_

_In case they didn't get my drift_

_But I have this thing_

_That mucks up when I sing_

_I'm gonna let it show, it's time_

_To let you know_

_To let you know."_

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn glanced over at Nate for the first time since she'd started singing. She knew she wasn't as good a singer as Mitchie and she'd changed the lyrics because the song was designed to be sung from the heart and Mitchie's wouldn't work for her but Nate didn't appear to have noticed, his eyes were half closed and he was swaying again. She shrugged, moving into the chorus.

"_This is real, this is me_

_I can sing solos in harmony, now_

_Want my own spotlight, shining on me_

_Now I've found, what I am_

_There's no way to hold it in_

_Helium bursting from inside of me_

_This is me."_

Her fingers could still remember this piece as though the days of practicing had been only yesterday. Still, she'd never had to sing it and she had no idea how the second verse went.

"_Do you know what it's like_

_To feel so in the dark?"_

She glanced over in surprise, almost missing a beat as Nate sang quietly. How come he knew the lyrics to this song? He'd only heard it once, hadn't he? At Final Jam last year.

"_To dream about a life_

_Where I'm the light without your star_

_Even though it seems_

_Like its too far away_

_I have to try, I have to win_

_Cause that's the only way."_

Caitlyn glanced over but he appeared to be done singing so she came in with the chorus again. _Is he going to do Shane's bit?_ She thought apprehensively. _Or will he expect me to?_ So far they appeared to have got the song going purely through coincidence and good timing but the likelihood that that streak would continue was probably fairly low.

***Nate***

Nate glanced up at Caitlyn but she was looking down at her piano so she couldn't see him. _I know Shane's part,_ he thought uncertainly. _I know what _I'd_ do... but what's she going to do?_ He finished the chorus, switching back into _Gotta Find You_, his fingers on the strings as he sang softer.

"_It's the reason my guitar has no_

_Speakers amps or cables_

_I need to find you_

_I gotta find you."_

He looked over at her again and, to his complete surprise, she smiled very slightly. It was possible that she was just indicating what would happen next though, as she continued.

"_What's the missing piece I need_

_The one to set me free_

_I need to find you_

_I gotta find you."_

The last chorus was where it all fell apart though. He had to keep an eye on his fingers as he switched back between the two songs and somewhere along the line Caitlyn had got mixed up causing a couple of jarring chords before they both faded so a stop. Nate pressed his fingers against his guitar to still the strings and glanced over at her. For a moment he was tempted to say something nice... maybe she wasn't too bad.

Still, his pride took the moment of indecision to push up and point out that they were still locked in a room and Caitlyn was annoying and it was her fault he was here and not in the kitchen eating cupcakes or already back in his own cabin. "What time is it?"

Caitlyn looked surprised for a moment at his tone but then her face went unreadable and she glanced at her wrist. "Nine o'clock."

"So we barely wasted any time." Nate let out a long sigh.

***Caitlyn**

Caitlyn echoed his sigh, resting her fingers on the keyboard keys. The ending to that song had definitely been something of a disaster. She reached up with one hand to rub her throat which, of course, had come in with the worst timing possible causing her to baulk, miss the change in the music and, basically, fail at the song she'd _written._ Nate had been better than her and he didn't even _know_ the song.

_Anyway,_ she found herself thinking. _He said it was just to waste time. He wouldn't like me just because I was able to keep up with him... or wasn't, either way._

Not that she cared what he thought... or wanted to care. She sighed, taking her hand away from her throat as the ache faded and playing another chord.

"_Trapped in a room,"_ she improvised wildly. _"No key to turn the door." _She glanced over at Nate in case he would continue. It took him several moments to meet her eyes then he shrugged, trying out a couple of chords before finding the one she'd used.

"_Trapped in a room, no food put in store."_

"_Do you ever thing of anything except food?"_

"_Very rarely. Why are we singing?"_

"_Because we're bored stiff."_

"_Oh." _Nate let the last guitar chord sing into silence. "It wasn't a very good song," he informed her after a moment. "Most songs have a tune, or rhyme. Some songs even have a topic."

Caitlyn shrugged, pulling her fingers self-consciously off the piano. She knew it hadn't been good, it wasn't _supposed_ to be good but that didn't mean Nate had to criticise it in his stupid 'much grander than thou' way. That took all the fun out of it and turned it into something stupid and childish.

_Stop thinking about what Nate thinks of everything,_ she thought at herself fiercely. _What does it matter what he thinks? I don't _like_ him._ And it was annoying that as she spent more time with him (albeit not by choice) she was _starting_ to see what all the fangirls saw in him and she kind of understood that he might've been a decent person before he changed and became whatever he was now.

Perhaps it was because of these thoughts that she found herself asking slowly, apprehensively and without looking at him. "Shane," she opened nervously. "Last year, after the beach jam when you guys played, he told Mitchie she wanted to be friends with Shane Grey, that everyone wanted to be friends with Shane Grey rather than him."

***Nate***

Nate fought the urge to bash his head into something. Why did _everyone_ feel the need to make this 'you're not the arrogant pop star, it's what's inside that counts' argument just because it had worked on Shane last year? He _wasn't_ Shane. When were people going to start realising this?

"Is that what you think?" Caitlyn prompted slightly. "All those fangirls, they want to be friends with Nate Grey and not you? That I'm... not too keen on Nate Grey but I don't actually know _you_. Is that what you thi-"

"No," Nate interrupted sharply, before she could give any more of a spiel than she already had. "This is Nate Grey," he spread both arms out. "And this is me. God knows who all the fangirls like but I'm pretty certain everyone that hates me hates Nate Grey and the other person that you've all got together and invented so you can pretend that I'm not actually this annoying in real life."

"So you really are this unpleasant."

"This is real, this is me, I'm an arrogant jerk and pleased to be." He struck a chord, assuming a theatrical pose at the same time. "No fairytale ending, just leave me be."

"Okay, I get it. I just don't see why you're so proud of being horrible to everyone."

"It gets them to leave me alone. Well, except when I get locked in a room with a stupid girl who can't resist making pointless conversation and comparing me to my jerk of a brother."

"He's a better person than you are!"

"Yeah, because making circles in canoes and teaching a load of ten year olds how to write lame music makes him such a wonderful person. It must give you such a warm glow knowing your best friend is abandoning you for a boy like that."

***Caitlyn***

For half a second Caitlyn thought she was going to blow up and get angry but then a voice pointed out inside her. _Oh it's not worth it. He's just Nate for heaven's sake, he's like this to everyone._

She wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to think about Nate or anything else. Unfortunately, this left her very open to consider how cold the hut had got in the time since they arrived. Apparently Mitchie's 'plan' didn't stretch as far as keeping them both alive and in one piece by the next morning.

_But then,_ she thought, rubbing her fingers across her arms and hoping Nate, in his T-shirt and jeans, was having a far worse time then she was. _They locked me in here with _Nate._ I'm amazed we're both still alive after this long._

"At least I _have_ a best friend," she replied as casually as she could, forcing herself not to look at Nate to check his reaction. "I mean, I have a life outside of music and my music life isn't completely messed up. That's got to be a bonus."

Okay, she couldn't resist it anymore, she glanced across the hut out of the corner of her eye. To her disappointment Nate was looking up at the same time and they met each other's eyes.

Then he looked away. "Everyone makes light of it."

_Wait... what? Is he showing emotion?_ Caitlyn turned more fully, pulling her jacket tighter around her. "Makes light of what?" she asked uncertainly, wondering how to proceed from here. Nate had his face turned away from her, his fingers brushing against the strings of his guitar without making any sound. She waited until she couldn't endure it anymore then prompted. "Nate?"

He glanced around, saw her watching him and turned more fully, his fingers starting to pluck out seemingly random notes. "Why do you care?"

Well that was an awkward question... because she didn't _care_ so much as she didn't have anything better to do than ask. Well, she didn't _think _she cared because she knew she didn't like Nate which is supposed to mean you don't want to know anything about them but...

_Maybe I'm over thinking this? I mean... Mitchie locked him up here so that we could talk. Except, I don't like Mitchie either at the moment... couldn't they have left me a handbook of 'Answers to Questions Posed by Nate Grey.' Surely there's a fangirl somewhere with nothing better to do. Actually... if I followed a book written by a fangirls I'd just spend my whole time squealing._ Caitlyn shook herself to resort her thoughts and try to get away from the idea of fangirling Nate. There was only one response she could think of and, annoyingly, it probably wouldn't generate an answer. She shrugged. "No reason." Maybe she could get to this in a more circumvent way... she was starting to get really _curious_ about what had happened to Nate. Presumably something had happened because his brothers apparently used to like him and she really couldn't see why anyone would like the Nate Grey that she knew. "So... your solo tour, you toured with Peggy right?"

"Margaret," Nate corrected. "Yeah."

Caitlyn felt awkward for a moment. She'd got so used to thinking of Peggy as Peggy but then, she supposed Margaret sounded more professional. And 'Peggy' had just been what Tess called her. Now Nate had given the impression that _he_ knew Margaret better than she did. How did he _always_ manage to seem better than her? "Did you get on with her, I always thought she was fairly ni-"

"You didn't even know her _name,_" Nate interrupted, managing to make her sound completely inadequate. "None of you did. She'd written basically an entire album all of which were completely incredible and no one in this music camp even bothered to ask." He was still plucking chords, his eyes on her and his fingers moving apparently of their own accord. "You were all too busy with Mitchie and my idiot of a brother." He shrugged, still playing. "Margaret was the one who won final jam. Jason liked it and Shane was going on and on about how he'd never have expected it of her because she seemed so quiet."

Caitlyn was thrown for a moment. He hadn't mentioned himself there. "Who did you vote for?" she asked, out of curiosity."

Nate shrugged again. "That's private. Suffice to say I used the judging sheet and marked each one by merit unlike my brothers. Still, it was two against one, I'm the youngest and Shane was the one doing the recording. I guess it worked out in the end, she plays well enough."

_Well enough? She was amazing!_ Caitlyn didn't respond to this though, instead just cast around for another topic. "I here she's doing pretty well since you took a break."

"Quit," Nate corrected. "You say 'quit' if I'm not going back."

"You've done some shows with Connect 3 since, though."

"Yeah," he sounded strangely wistful, strumming a full chord up and down as though he wasn't sure what to say next. "Might quit though," he added in a strange rush as though he hadn't been sure he would say it until he started and by then it was too late to back out. "Dunno."

"Why would you quit?"

"No reason."

***Nate***

_What did you say that for?_ Nate thought at himself fiercely. _You haven't told _anyone_ about that. _Truth be told, he hadn't even really admitted it to himself. He hadn't _wanted _to admit it, even in his thoughts. As much as he wasn't getting on with his brothers, however many fights they got into he never wanted to quit Connect 3. He never wanted to lose that part of his life.

_But if I don't trust the instruments, I don't trust the backing players and I freeze up. _He hit one hand against the wood of his guitar. _I can't be in a band if I can't play. Maybe Mitchie could take my place, she plays piano as well as guitar. _He ran his fingers across the wood of his instrument. It would be torture, torture to watch Mitchie or Ele go on stage with _his _brothers, play _his_ songs. He didn't want to hold Jason and Shane back, they deserved to keep going, to grow. They deserved to go down in history.

_And I'll be a footnote,_ he swallowed uncomfortably. _A third band member who dropped out early._

"It's getting late," Caitlyn remarked, apparently already tired of that topic.

_What do you want?_ He asked himself fiercely. _Do you want someone to sit you down and ask what's wrong? Because you've had plenty of chances._ He kicked the drawers. He could still _write_ songs. He could just hang out on the tour bus and write some of the band's music. Or email it to them if the bus was too small to fit him along with the rest of the band. "What time is it?" he asked, trying to distract himself.

"About nine thirty." Caitlyn shrugged. "I was just thinking if we get some sleep we won't have to find more ways to kill time. And maybe we won't notice the cold so much."

_Cold..._ now he thought about it he could see Caitlyn shivering and pulling her jacket closer. He looked down at his arms and saw goose bumps raised against the flesh. As it always was, the moment he thought about it, he started to feel it. "Check around," he said, standing up and wincing slightly at pins and needles in one foot. "Maybe there's a blanket or something."

Her suggestion about going to sleep wasn't that bad. It was like young children the day before Christmas 'the sooner you go to bed, the sooner morning will come.' He opened a few drawers at random, finding nothing but musical instruments. "Don't these huts have heating?" he asked, rubbing his hands across his bare arms as he peered under the piano.

"Apparently not," Caitlyn replied through chattering teeth. "I can't find any blankets or anything. God, you'd think they could at least have _asked_ Brown to sort something out for us."

Unfortunately, thinking about being cold only served to make Nate colder. "Great," he replied. "Well, I'm not going to be able to fall asleep unless one of us comes up with some kind of magic plan to warm us both up."

***Caitlyn***

_Now this is the sort of situation that magic helium should work for. _Caitlyn scuffed the toes of one shoe against the floor, deriving only a very tiny bit of satisfaction from the fact that Nate was shivering too now and possibly even worse than she was. "You should wear a jumper," she remarked, in the hope that annoying him might warm her up. Maybe if they fought they'd be able to share body heat.

"I'll remember that next time," replied Nate at the same moment as a thought struck her.

_Wait... body heat._ The thought trailed off and she suddenly realised what that might entail. She dithered for a few moments but then her freezing cold limbs seemed to decide for her. "Nate," she opened slowly. "There _is_ one way that we could _both_ warm up and I really _hate_ myself for thinking this, let alone suggesting it, but I'm _seriously_ cold."

He looked around enthusiastically when she said it might work though the slightly dubious cast to his features would probably grow once she suggested it. "Yes?"

She could feel her face turning slightly red as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "Well we've both got a bit of body heat which is, you know, going into the surroundings when it could be being used to... to warm the other." She had the uncomfortable feeling that she must look rather like a beetroot. "I mean, if we kind of lay on the floor and pushed against each other."

"Pushed?" echoed Nate, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair. "Against each _other._ Like, in a physical contact kind of way..."

Caitlyn felt her face go even hotter, the only part of her body that wasn't freezing off. Maybe if she said something _really_ embarrassing she could warm her whole bod-

_Don't even go there,_ warned the part of her mind that didn't want to be scarred for life.

"Okay."

_What?_ Caitlyn's eyes flicked up to Nate's face. "What?" she repeated out loud.

"I said," Nate replied in a slow, swallowing of pride kind of way. "Okay."

"Really?"

"I'm freezing." He sat down cross legged on the floor. "So get over here. Let's just get this over with."

***Nate***

It was either the cold or the numerous late nights but the moment he was lying down he could feel exhaustion wrapping around his body. That, combined with the warm radiating from Caitlyn who was already closer than he was really sure about meant he was actually fairly comfortable for the first time in the whole evening.

Of course, there had been the very awkward moment when they were both sitting opposite each other and neither were entirely sure how this worked. Did they hug or was that too boyfriend/girlfriend. Eventually they'd just kind of laid down opposite each other which was where they were now.

"If you put your arm across my shoulder," Caitlyn said in a tone which suggested she'd never imagined she'd have to say this in her life. "Then I move in a bit closer."

"My arm will stay cold, yours will be between us."

"Um... put it under my jacket then... I'm not a fangirl."

"Believe me, I would not even be _considering_ this if you were." Nate tried to banish all thoughts of any of the people from that horrible concert being in Caitlyn's place now.

After several more tense moments they ended up in a strangely warm heap. "Your hand's cold," Caitlyn said, squirming slightly.

"Well your back's warming it nicely."

"Hmm." Caitlyn tossed her hair slightly then lay her head down. Nate paused then did the same finding, to his slight surprise that this meant he had a very good view of her face. "I hate you," she reminded him but any venom or distaste that might've been in her voice had been pushed out by the tiredness. Apparently the cocoon of warmth was enough to make them both sleepy.

"The feeling's mutual," Nate reassured her, pulling her a little bit closer and getting arguably more action than Shane and Mitchie had ever had.

"Mmm," Caitlyn managed agreeably, resting her forehead lightly against his shoulder. "Night, Nate."

Nate twisted the fingers of one hand through her hair lightly. "Night Caitlyn." His eyes closed and he was asleep almost instantly.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: More more. I'm glad you all seemed to like the last chapter (: I was toying with a kiss but it all seemed too easy (and I never let my characters do anythign easily). So... Caitlyn and Nate have now spent a night together (and if anyone knew how they'd spent it... well... I'm sure any magasine would pay a lot for that story) and they now each have a score to settle with, well, everyone else._

_Let's see where it goes (: _

_Well, I know where it goes. But i can still hope that maybe you won't guess. Well... you know where it's ending up... but... oh nevermind, I've confused myself._

_Let's just get the the chapter, okay?_

* * *

Ten

***Caitlyn***

After the... incident... involving the music hut, Caitlyn resolved that she wasn't going to speak to any of the perpetrators again for the rest of camp. Mitchie was complaining a _lot_, usually when Caitlyn was trying to sleep, but Caitlyn was certain this was the pacifists approach. Mitchie had no idea how lucky she was that Caitlyn hadn't hit her.

The only problem she could see so far with this plan, however, was that it left her social circle rather... limited... meaning first thing two mornings later after a day of nothing while her new timetable was sorted she was confronted by Nate storming into a room and his eyes falling on her. Shockingly, his anger seemed to abate and he flicked through embarrassment before coming out confused.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

It was nice, the way he said 'you' as though she was a very unpleasant contagious disease. Really made a girl feel wanted. She shrugged, as though it didn't matter much even though it did. It really did. "I had to drop all my classes because either Mitchie was taking them, Shane was teaching them or both. Brown said I couldn't have a blank timetable and I'm not talking to Jason or Ele thus," she spread her arms. "Here I am. No choice."

Nate stalked forward, apparently capable of ignoring the entire class who seemed shocked that he seemed to know someone in the camp enough to have something resembling a two-sided conversation. "Couldn't you go somewhere else?"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, turning after him. "Where?"

"Oh, I dunno, _anywhere._" He was moving towards a pile of cushions which was, presumably, where he usually slept in these lessons.

"If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. I don't want to be here either, I can assure you. At least you don't keep trying to talk to me." She moved over to the wall and sat on a side board between a stereo and a box of hats.

"Hi, Caitlyn," came a kind of timid voice from across the room and she glanced over to see Andy sitting in a corner with another girl. They looked like they were attempting to get two MP3 players in time with each other.

"Hi Andy. What are you doing?" _Finally, someone in the camp who isn't a jerk pop star or a stupid idiot who thinks locking me in a room with a jerk would be amusing._

"We were going to try a dance routine, we need to make sure we're in time with each other."

_Oh yeah, Nate hates noise..._ Caitlyn smirked slightly and reached over to the CD collection. "If you want to be in time with each other, you should just listen to the same song. That's what the stereo is for." She picked one disk at random and slid it into the CD player. "I'm sure Nate will survive."

She glanced over and saw Nate was sitting up on his pillows and glaring at her. "Caitlyn," he said warningly.

"What?" she said with a bright smile, hitting play and turning the volume up so she could barely hear his retort. Then she shrugged, holding a hand up by her ear. "Sorry," she mouthed. "Can't hear you."

***Nate***

Nate had never _seriously_ wanted to punch a girl (ignoring Mitchie and Ele, they were his brother's girlfriends. There had to be a rule somewhere that said they didn't count) more than he did right at this moment. He'd had a _terrible_ night's sleep due to this stupid backing guitar part which had been pushing at his mind and simultaneously refusing to spawn lyrics and a melody _or_ let him get to sleep. That combined with Brown waking him up stupidly early (the man seemed to think Nate might want to shower or have breakfast or do anything other than throw a few clothes on before his morning class) to tell him that they should have a 'talk' soon about what had happened in the practice huts.

Did they need to have a 'talk'? They'd already had a perfectly good argument when the two of them had stormed to Brown's hut the moment Dee unlocked their room in preparation for the day ahead. His main excuse had been that they'd been 'locked in the wrong hut' which was why the heating had been off.

He noticeably had no explanation for why he'd authorised them being locked in in the first place. He had been added to Nate's blacker-than-black list (his black list already contained everyone on camp) but he still insisted on playing the uncle.

Nate stormed over to the stereo, pulling out the power chord. "I need _sleep,_" he half-shouted, pushing Caitlyn off the side mostly just because he didn't like having to look up at her.

"Well Andy needs to have the music class he paid for."

"I don't want to dance, I don't want to listen to your stupid techno music. I want to be left alone somewhere quiet with a guitar and a pillow so I can play music and sleep and..."And _now_ he was getting an idea for a melody. Now, when it was too late to make any difference to the amount of sleep he was getting. He pushed past Caitlyn, ignoring whatever she was saying in response and grabbed the only instrument in the hut, a black electric guitar. His fingers trembled very slightly when he gripped it.

_Grow up, Nate. You can't have a phobia of electric guitars, you're a guitarist. It doesn't _work.

But he couldn't help sending up a silent prayer to Brown's magic no-wires system of guitar management, however it worked. "Leave me alone," he repeated, turning back to Caitlyn as he slid the strap over his head.

She was beaming... why would she be beaming? What was she _planning?_ "Okay," she said simply.

"Wait... okay? Is that it?"

She was already turning to the class. "Right. It seems clear that all this class _really_ needs is some organisation and, while I can't dance any better than any of you, I might be able to sort that."

"Caitlyn," Nate started, warningly. "I'm not going to agree to this."

"Of course you are. You get to play music, they get to dance, Brown gets off all our backs and we get left alone. Isn't that what you want?"

It was... but there would be a catch. Unless... "Oh," he managed as it dawned on him. _I want to play music, they need music to dance to. I'm kind of dense sometimes..._

"You can be really dense sometimes, Nate." Caitlyn turned to the class. "This is called a compromise. You get to do whatever you want but the music will be Nate's music and Nate's style. He won't sleep in class anymore."

Nate let out a soft snort at this. He would sleep in class if he wanted to sleep in class. Right now he wanted to play music. He started playing the rhythm from last night, smoothing out the kinks in it and finding the right chords to fit it. It was working well and the guitar was playing as though it was attached to an amp. _A bit of security would be nice with the system, Brown. Something to make sure it always works?_

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn rested the palm of her hand across her throat, stopping talking the moment Nate's fingers hit the strings and she helium pushed through her. _So sometimes it works when I want it to,_ she thought pensively, climbing back onto the side and watching as the class pulled together from the edges of the room and started to find the beat.

Andy's drum sticks were resting on the side a little further down. She leant over and grabbed them, tapping a rhythm against the box of hats which, thankfully, no one was using preferring to just do the movements. They were leading themselves, improvising in different ways and it didn't look perfect or practiced or meshed but it was improvisation and it was working and she felt the pain in her throat sooth slightly to a mild discomfort. Nate's guitar volume lowered slightly and he opened his mouth to sing slowly.

"_Don't want to live life your way,_

_But I'm finding it easy, easy to give in._

_Just want to have my life, my say_

_Don't want to have to let you in._

_Cause it's my world, they're my secrets_

_I can hold them as long as I want to, _

_It's my life, stories untold_

_Not to him, her or you,_

_Not now_

_Ever, ever after maybe_

_You'll know all about me_

_Just not now."_

It was slower than the music the dancers were, presumably, used to but they were already adjusting, smiling and laughing slightly as they swayed and stepped around each other and crashed into each other to the floor. The twists in the music were unexpected and the dance was random but this could work, maybe.

Nate was still playing chords but now he looked over at her. "You want a go? You write songs, don't you?"

Technically, she did, but she'd never tried one like this before where she'd have to just come up with it spur of the moment. Not unless it was a song with all the lyrics already there.

_Unless I just copy what he sang._

She closed her eyes slightly then opened her mouth and sang, slightly higher than usual admittedly but the helium seemed to be simultaneously hurting her throat so she couldn't sing and magicking her throat so she _could. _It felt very strange.

"_Don't want to have to follow your plans_

_But I'm finding it easy, to have none of my own_

_Just want to have my life, my dreams_

_Just want to make my own home."_

Was it obvious that she'd just gone with the first rhyme she could think of? Nate was starting to move up and down the room with his guitar as he sang the chorus again and the dancers seemed to have come up with a definite routine for this part though only one of them knew it so it was entertaining watching him moving and all the others colliding and falling over.

"_Cause it's my world, they're my secrets_

_I can hold them as long as I want to, _

_It's my life, stories untold_

_Not to him, her or you,_

_Not now_

_Ever, ever after maybe_

_You'll know all about me_

_Just not now."_

He nodded at her again and for a moment she wanted to yell at him that she wasn't like him and she couldn't make up songs on the spot then she just found herself going along with it.

"_You assume I know what I'm doing, here." _Okay, that was all she could think of.

"_And you all assume that I care,"_ Nate had come in, as though he had been expecting this. Was he _psychic_ or something? Did he have magic oxygen or hydrogen or something just as stupid?

"_I just want to tell you that I have no answers."_

"_Just a burst of stage and flair."_

"Too true," she said, unable to help herself smiling a little as Nate laughed at her comment.

"_Maybe this is all I am,_

_Just a face and a famous name."_

"_Maybe if you close your eyes_

_I'll break your heart again."_

Nate titled his head back and stuck his tongue out as though she'd killed him. "Tacky, Caitlyn, _real_ tacky. There I was thinking maybe we'd avoid love and heartbreak with just one song." He interrupted himself by coming in with the chorus again and, this time, she joined in.

"_Cause it's my world, they're my secrets_

_I can hold them as long as I want to, _

_It's my life, stories untold_

_Not to him, her or you,_

_Not now_

_Ever, ever after maybe_

_You'll know all about me_

_Just not now."_

"Are you guys, like, in _love _or something?"

Both theit heads both shot around like bullets to where Andy was looking at them with a questioning expression. "No," they said at exactly the same time.

"We're mutual enemies," Caitlyn elaborated. "He's a spoilt arrogant jerk who doesn't care about anyone."

"She's just annoying," Nate provided. "But we keep getting shoved together, it's like Fate... or possibly Brown... is determined to set us up together."

"Which will not happen," Caitlyn added. "Never."

"I think he thinks I'll mellow if I get together with a girl. He clearly hasn't met Caitlyn, however. I can't see her mellowing anyone." He rested his hand against the guitar again. "Let's try a song you might be more familiar with, does anyone know any songs by Connect 3 or from my solo tour?"

"What about Play My Music," Andy offered, trying to martial the dance group into a line. "Those of us who were here last year know that one, Caitlyn could join in with us..."

"No," Caitlyn contradicted, with the same force she'd just used to say there was no way she was ever going out with Nate Grey. "I _don't_ dance. No way. No way _ever._"

"I think you should," Nate said, starting to play and effectively silencing her. She shook her head firmly. "It would be funny," he elaborated then shrugged. "Music!"

Caitlyn brought the drum sticks down and it was a fiasco.

But a fun fiasco.

***Nate***

It was strange... he'd never been this unwilling to _leave _his class before. They'd stopped playing a while back and now the group of dancers were sitting on the floor and discussing routines while he sat up on the side with Caitlyn who was rubbing her throat. "You should take throat sweets," he remarked. "Or cough drops, they might help."

"Help what?"

"Your throat." He pulled a fake mike from the box beside him, throwing it from hand to hand. "Whenever you sing near me you always clutch your throat as though it's hurting you. Not the best trait in a musician."

Caitlyn shrugged but she was blushing a little. "Luckily I'm not a singer. I'm more into the producing side of music, recording and mixing. That sort of thing." She glanced at her watch. "Hey, the class finished ten minutes ago. Andy said you usually left early."

Nate glanced over at her for a moment. He couldn't exactly _admit_ that he'd kind of been enjoying himself. His pride wouldn't let him. "I have a meeting with Brown," he said instead. She would probably understand. She'd been locked in the room too, possibly even without a good reason.

"Ah." Caitlyn glanced at the group. "They want to do that song you wrote in final jam, a dance routine for it at any rate. Are you okay with that?"

Nate glanced at the group then shrugged. "Better than it just lying in my head and never getting used."

"You don't want it for Connect 3? Or for you?"

He let out a soft laugh, slightly regretful. "In case you hadn't noticed, Connect 3 isn't connecting all that well at the moment. I don't think I'll play solo again, I don't even know if I'll play in the band." He shook himself slightly. He was saying far too much and he was saying it to _Caitlyn_ of all people. He didn't even like Caitlyn. He didn't like her and she didn't like him. They'd _established_ that. He pushed himself down with a sigh, tossing the toy mike back to her. "Well, I guess I'd better go face our great master. Hate to think he might come down here and see my class being productive. I have a reputation to keep up here."

"So you're not a jerk, it's just your reputation."

"Or I am a jerk and my reputation backs it up." He flashed her a bright smile. "I don't suppose you'd be really nice and give my class a miss tomorrow?"

"No such luck, _I_ don't want to have to go see Brown. Your days of sleeping in class are over."

Nate shrugged finding, to his surprise, that he didn't mind all that much. He glanced over at where his class were starting to make a move. "Anyone who doesn't turn up for class tomorrow gets a gold star."

Sadly, they all just laughed.

***Jason***

"All I'm saying," Ele repeated for what must've been about the tenth time proving that all she was saying was rather a lot. "Is that we can't make the aquiturd _here._ We don't have enough resources or the right machines. We _definitely_ don't have enough funding."

Jason picked up the latest design complete with calculations he didn't really understand and a small note on the bottom reading: 'how to make the guitar function without killing the animals... magic?' It would be disappointing to have come this far during the summer only to fall now, at the last hurdle. "Could we make a prototype," he offered. "One that doesn't have to work completely but could still look good?"

"That's what I've been _saying._" Ele snatched all the designs together, gathering them into a pile with the short sharp movements she used when she was annoyed. "_We_ can't make _anything_ with what we have at the moment."

Jason picked up his mobile from the floor, flipping it between his palms instead. Admittedly this had all been what Nate had been saying from the start but it felt more real when Ele said it. He flipped his phone open, scrolling through the menu more for something to do with his hands than anything really serious.

He glanced at the screen at the moment when their agent's name, Celia, flashed up on the screen. She was new, someone who liked their new style of music and had helped Connect 3 change their sound and up it. She'd been more distracted lately because of her new boyfriend...

Jason started smiling.

Her new boyfriend who worked in a concept designs studio where they modelled full scale design ideas.

"Jason, why are you smiling? This isn't _good_ you know. It's, like, everything we've done so far is a complete waste of time. Look at me when I'm talking to you. Stop staring at your phone like that. Jason!"

He smiled wider and kissed her. She stopped talking very quickly. "Celia!"

It took her a few moments to collect herself by which time she wasn't frowning quite so much but was ready with a sarcastic comment. "Don't you usually learn the names of the girls you kiss? I'm Ele, _Ele._" She was blushing slightly though and couldn't conceal a small hint of delight in her voice.

"My agent," Jason explained quickly. "Her boyfriend might be able to make it."

Ele's expression started shifting from confusion to a mirror of the smile on Jason's face. "Properly?"

"He might not be able to do all the wiring you've got here but he could make the shape, I think. Celia was showing us a concept guitar he made which was star shaped. It was cool, but it didn't work very well... plus it had no wildlife feature..."

Ele was almost bouncing with enthusiasm now and cut across his musings. "Can you call him? Tell him I'll send anything he needs, _anything._ We should tell Brown. Does he need paying? I could save up..."

Jason raised a hand slightly. "I'm a popstar," he offered. "I think I should be able to afford it." He lifted his phone to his ear though, pressing the call button. "I'll ask," he said, adding just in case: "but no promises."

Ele just smiled widely. "Anything is possible."


	11. Chapter 11

_More! (:_

_Um... there's a song in this one, not sure if it's a particularly good one but I figured seeing as Nate was inventing it on the spot I may as well just invent it as fast as I could type..._

_I like the end of this chapter... not so sure about the rest but it was important plotwise._

_Hmmm... and I'm getting closer in posting to where I am in writing which means I might have to actually write some of this sometime soon... ulp (:_

_-Ekkah_

* * *

Eleven

***Nate***

_Maybe if I started wearing a sign around my neck saying 'Here Under Protest' people would stop thinking I might be happy to see them. _Nate had hovered around the entrance to Brown's hut for ten minutes before Brown had opened the door and pulled him bodily inside with a bright grin on his face as he cried Nate's name in such a way that suggested he was incredibly enthusiastic about all this.

"I'm only talking to you because I have no choice," he opened, folding his arms and facing Brown across the cabin. "And if this is about cleaning the music huts me and Caitlyn have both agreed that we won't, whatever you say. We're prepared to protest."

Annoyingly, Brown just smiled at this. "You agree? Well, it's nice to know you agree with someone here."

Nate resisted the urge to grind his teeth by reminding himself of all the horrible times he'd had to visit the dentist as a child. _Bad habit._ "Yes," he agreed coldly. "We bonded deeply over our intense hatred of everyone else."

Brown ignored this, walking around him to his desk where he slid into the chair, watching Nate. "She's a nice girl."

Nate rolled his eyes instead. "Everyone's 'nice' to someone." He picked up Brown's guitar, sliding the strap over his shoulder and plucking a few notes. "Doesn't mean I have to like them."

Brown sighed. "Please don't steal my guitar again."

"The word you're looking for is 'borrow.'" He ran up and down a scale a few times. "Can I go yet?"

"We haven't talked yet."

"Sure we have."

"Nate."

"Why do you always have to say my name as though I've done something wrong?"

"Usually you have. Take a seat and try not to say anything unless it's constructive. I'm tired of hearing sarcasm."

Nate mimed zipping his lips and hooked the free chair out with his foot, sitting on it and tilting back regarding Brown with his complete, insincere concentration.

"I want to talk to you about your solo tour. No, don't walk away just hear me out."

Nate was already standing up to leave but he glanced back slightly to see Brown leaning forwards and biting his lip slightly. _When will you people learn that I don't want to talk about it? It's over, done, finished._

" Please, Nate. Just listen to me, okay? You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, just hear me out and I promise I'll leave the issue for the rest of the summer if you want me to, I won't bring it up again and I won't argue with you anymore or try to punish you. I'll convince Shane to let you leave camp if you want to."

It was a tempting offer... a _very_ tempting offer. Slowly, he sank back into his chair, his eyes meeting Brown's straight and level. He shrugged. _Fine. What've you got?_

"I talked with Shane –"

_Bet that was interesting._

Brown waited a few moments then, when Nate didn't interrupt, he pressed on. "He said he didn't want to try to talk to you because... well... I think your brothers were a bit put out by how harsh the responses were from you and Caitlyn..."

_Did they expect us to have a wonderful time? We hate each other._ Still, he rested his hands in his lap and looked at them, trying to think back to exactly _what_ he'd told Shane. He'd just been shouting really, trying to get something out that would make Shane just leave him alone.

"You're scared, aren't you?"

Nate glanced up but Brown wasn't looking at him anymore so he turned back to his guitar, plucking a few notes and trying not to say. _Yes..._

"Scared of... your own fans?"

A sharp note sounded in the middle of the scale. Nate glanced down at his hands, almost in surprise. He hadn't missed a note in... _years?_

"You got attacked, Nate. Is that right?"

Nate played the note again, listening to it sound. Alone it sounded fine, alone it could be anything it was just in the scale... it was wrong, just wrong. For the first time it started to dawn on him what leaving Connect 3 might mean.

"I talked to Peggy but she said she'd gone home early that one night. The guys in the club just shrugged and said there was some sort of power outage. Your backing musicians just said they'd left. I might've... well, they're not talking to me now and I think I can swing it so they'll never get hired again. Is that... is that what you want?"

_Someone's been busy. _Even in thought the comment was lacking his usual sarcasm standards. He ran up the same scale again, listening to the notes ring out true. "Margaret," he said quietly.

"What?"

But he just shrugged. What did it matter, anyway? If he wasn't... if he never played live again. _Never feel the rush again, never scream out loud again._

"You said something about being attacked to Shane, didn't you? Attacked _by_ the fans?"

He felt something firm on his hand, holding it still, and looked down to see Brown had leant forwards, resting one of his larger, muscled hands on top of his.

He looked up slowly to meet Brown's eyes and saw them full of concern, uncertainty. There was no accusation, no threats. "I'm right, aren't I? That's why you don't come to the jam sessions, why you block everybody out because you don't want to let them get close. You're scared." A second hand folded over the first. "So there's a question now, isn't there. What are you going to do? Are you just going to keep hiding away, never letting anyone close enough to see the real you? You're a pop star, Nate. You can't hide away."

Nate looked away then pulled back, standing up and resting his hands back against the guitar strings, running across the scale. "_Never feel the rush again_," he sang quietly. "_Never scream out loud again,_

_Never live this dream, _

_No more._

_Never stand up tall again_

_Never set yourself up to fall again_

_Cause there's nothing worth_

_Falling for."_

He couldn't look around to see Brown, couldn't do anything but face the door and play, hitting the chords for the chorus at the same moment as Brown's temperamental speaker system hit in and the noise was amplified around the hut.

"_If I could go back, and do it all again_

_I'd tell you that I need you by my side."_

He closed his eyes and, finally, let it all go.

"_If I could undo the choices that I made_

_I know I could survive_

_But I'm too scared, too cold, too weak_

_To take that step outside_

_So I'll just go on, now_

_Never feel the warmth again_

_From a spotlight cross my face_

_Never trust to play again_

_Drop out at the side of the race_

_Never stand up tall again_

_Never set myself up, to fall again_

_Cause there's nothing left_

_No more_

_That I find is worth_

_Falling for_

_If I could go back, and do it all again_

_I'd tell you that I need you right behind me_

_If I could undo the choices that I made_

_I'd pull you here beside me_

_But I'm too tired, too lost, too alone_

_To take that step outside, free_

_So I'll just go on_

_Just live on_

_And I wish you luck_

_Wish you joy_

_As you go on strong_

_Without me_

_Wish you happiness_

_Through all your lives_

_Remember when we_

_Connected Three."_

He didn't look around, didn't acknowledge that with the amount of noise he'd been making everyone within a hundred meter radius of the cabin must've heard. _Well it's out now, isn't it._ With one hand, he held the guitar strings still. _It's over now._

He left the hut without looking back, ducking as soon as possible into the trees and running, running until he could just forget everything but the beat pulsing through his ears and the song he should never have sung.

_It's over now._

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn rolled onto her side in the empty teaching hut, her hands still wrapped loosely around her throat and tears drying slowly on her cheeks as her body shook. _Too loud._

She'd heard the song like everyone else except she'd felt it too, felt it course through her with Nate's voice cutting her soul as it sent sharp pains through her throat. _So that's it... he's given up..._

And the helium had worked, worked even though Nate wasn't in her eyesight or near her or anything like that. It was like it wasn't controlled by proximity or by looks or by her choice.

_It's almost as if..._ Her whole body grew slightly cold as the realisation crept over her. _It's not me or just music. It's him. It's Nate._

_The helium reacts to Nate._

Why, though? It wasn't like the helium was a fan girl too (at least, that was unlikely) and it hadn't_ started_ when Nate was nearby… had it?

_So something's changed, something's tuned it to that one boy._

She pushed herself into a sitting position, unclasping her fingers and taking shaky breaths which felt like pins across her throat. She had to find him.

***Shane***

Shane knocked through the back door at high speed, arriving in time to see the front door swing shut. Ignoring Brown entirely he ran across the room, pushing at the door long enough to discover the latch had engaged and fighting with that for several moments before getting it open by which time his brother was already disappearing into the trees. "Nate! Nate!" If anything, this just made the distant figure speed up.

Shane spun around to be face to face with Brown at the same moment as the back door opened again this time to admit Jason, his eyes scanning around looking fully alert. "Nate?" he said questioningly, his eyes moving instantly to Shane.

"Nate," Shane agreed, looking at Brown for the first time. "What happened?"

"Did you hear the song?" Brown asked simply.

Jason walked further forwards. "I don't think _anyone_ missed it." He walked up beside Shane. "What I didn't get was what it meant... did it mean anything or was he just playing?"

Shane kicked one leg of Brown's desk. "It meant," he said, stiffly. "That Nate's quitting, pulling out. He doesn't want to play with us anymore, maybe he thinks he's too _good_ for us." Even as he said it, however, he knew it wasn't true. He knew he didn't mean it. Not after Nate had wished them luck without him.

_We don't want luck without you, Nate,_ he thought silently to his absent brother. _We want to play _with_ you. That's what Connect 3's all about._

"You were right," Brown interrupted, his eyes crossing between the two of them before fixing on Shane. "I think he was attacked by the crowd. The power went out, the band deserted him. It was a rough crowd and everything went on from there. His confidence is completely shot, he doesn't want to see people or be reminded. Fans scare him, Shane. He doesn't want to play because he –"

"Are we talking about Nate still?" Jason interrupted. "Because I can't help thinking I'm missing something... Nate's not bad with people, he just annoys them."

Brown sighed. "You've seen him around people he _knows._ And he still has confidence, he just... I don't know... he won't let people get close. He won't let people in."

"So he sings his heart out at high volume," Shane raised his eyebrows. "Good plan."

"Yeah but that wasn't his fault, was it. I mean, it's Brown's system."

Brown looked up in surprise. "_My_ system? You mean your system, right?"

Shane turned from Jason to his uncle. "No," he replied slowly. "Your amplifying system, we used it last year remember? It's radio controlled or something so we didn't have to use wires to play."

"But... that was you..."

Shane shook his head slowly. "It wasn't."

Jason looked from one to the other. "Then," he said slowly. "Who..."

***Nate***

"Hey?" The uncertain, female voice didn't annoy him as much as he'd assumed everyone's voice would. It also, surprisingly, didn't give him the urge to keep running so he just stayed there, sitting on the mud and leaning against the trunk of a large tree, resting his fingers on the guitar which had just managed to completely humiliate him.

Caitlyn took his unresponsiveness as agreement and sat down opposite him, pulling her legs up and smiling a little. "I heard your song."

Nate let out a low, humourless laugh. "Did you like it?"

Caitlyn smiled. "It needed some bass, maybe a keyboard solo. With a bit of work, could be a hit one day."

Nate found himself smiling too. "That would defeat the point. I'm done, finished, over."

To his surprise, the girl opposite him just laughed. "No you're not."

"Why not?" he struck an angry chord. "I mean, Brown's right. I'm scared of playing live, I'm scared of the fans. I don't trust the equipment not to break. Everything's temperamental and nothing ever works the way it should. That's the way of the world."

For the second time that day, a hand closed over his except this time in was smaller than his own and soft. He glanced around to see Caitlyn closer to him and smiling. "You're not going to leave Connect 3."

"Why not? I'm sure Shane and Jason would be quite happy to pull in Ele or Mitchie to replace me. Their real friends, you know. Anyway, it's not like I _want_ to be in a band with them anymore." He pulled his hand out from under hers and she turned her face away slightly.

"I don't... I don't think they would. I mean, you're the Grey Brothers, aren't you? It wouldn't be Connect 3 without all of you. They wouldn't be anything without you." She moved slightly to sit beside him and pulled the guitar from his hands. Strangely, this didn't make him regret taking the strap off. He just watched her, curiously. "You write the songs."

"Shane writes the good ones."

"Hah." She started flicking the strings thoughtfully, Nate looked around at her, raising his eyebrows.

"Hah?" he asked. "Why 'hah'?"

She looked at him, almost in surprise. "Well you wrote the one we did in dance class."

"With your help."

"If you say so. Plus, you wrote the one you just sang."

"That wasn't a song, it was just me complaining and quitting Connect 3."

"Cool way to leave a band."

Nate turned away, pulling his knees up and resting his arms on them. "Stop trying to find redeeming aspects about me. There aren't any."

"The fan girls must like you for a reason." She started playing the song from music, her fingers slightly halting on the notes suggesting she wasn't much of a guitarist.

"They like me for the same reason you're here with me now. Shane and Jason, Jason and Shane."

The hand touched his shoulder now. "I'm not here because of Jason and Shane, Nate. You of all people should know that there is no _way_ I'd be here just because Jason and Shane wanted me to be."

"So... why are you here?"

Caitlyn shrugged. "I dunno. I just figured after that majorly depressing number you would do something idiotic like run off into the woods with a guitar to indulge your theatrical melancholy side and I figured you might like the company. I'll leave if you want me to."

To his surprise, Nate found himself shaking his head. "No, you can stay. It's cool."

He wasn't sure how long they sat there without saying anything. Caitlyn gave up playing guitar after a few minutes and moved closer to him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He put an arm around her without really thinking about it. When he did come to notice, taking at away would've been awkward. _Anyway,_ he rationalised._ It's not like we haven't been closer than this before. When you think about it._

"What was it called?" Caitlyn asked eventually.

Nate hadn't even considered this question but he found himself answering anyway. "Disconnected." He ruffled her hair lightly. "I think we missed lunch." He broke off, reminded of what had happened. "Not that I particularly want to face anyone in that camp ever again. God, why was that song so _loud?_ It wasn't like I wanted anyone to hear it, I hate not being able to control my instruments, not even knowing what's causing them to play like their plugged into an amp even when they're not."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn bit her lip for a moment then tilted her head uncomfortably until she could see the edge of Nate's chin. She took a deep breath, this could be the time. She had to find out what was so special about Nate. "I am."

Nate's head tilted too now until they managed to work out a position which could, vaguely, be described as looking at each other. "What?"

"I can make instruments play loud, I can sing solos in harmony or let other people do it and I can do it all by breathing helium. Magic helium, obviously."

For a moment they just looked at each other. Caitlyn could feel herself shaking slightly. _I did it. I told him, I told him and it wasn't as bad as I was scared it might be. It was just... it was easy._

Then Nate laughed and suddenly he knocked her over until she was lying back on the forest floor with him leaning over her and smiling in such a way that his whole face seemed to light up and erase all the sulking and complaining he'd been doing. "Sure, Caitlyn," he said and it was strange how he spoke to her so casually as though they were friends. "You can breathe helium and it makes my guitar play loud."

"Magic helium," Caitlyn complained but she found she was smiling too. It was strange, when Mitchie hadn't believed her it had felt like a betrayal of trust but with Nate it just seemed like it was a joke, easy to laugh at.

"Ooooh." He laughed again, rolling onto his back beside her. "Have you ever noticed how the whole world seems different when you look at it from this position?"

Caitlyn, who had never even considered it before, found herself looking up through the tree branches to the blue sky beyond. As Nate fell silent she was suddenly aware of how alone they were. The only sounds were a few birds nearby and their breathing. "Nate," she said quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Do you... do you like me?"

"I thought we agreed we hated each other."

"Not like that." She propped herself up on one arm to look at him. "I mean, outside of what we agreed."

"You're tolerable."

_Tolerable._ Caitlyn sank back onto the ground, suppressing a sigh. _Well, I suppose it's better than him completely hating me._

***Nate***

Nate lay there for a few more moments then sighed, propping himself up to look over at Caitlyn who had turned her face away. What was he supposed to say? If he said what he was starting to consider then he was opening himself up for... for the chance to fall again.

_Cause there's nothing left_

_No more_

_That I find is worth_

_Falling for_

Except, living like that wasn't really living because it wasn't taking risks or making friends. It wasn't lying in a wood with a girl you barely knew who claimed to be able to breathe magic helium; it was the dull, sitting in corners with a guitar playing songs you'd never perform and never knowing where you were going to go in life because you'd closed the only open door.

"Caitlyn?"

She didn't reply but she couldn't have fallen asleep that fast so she must be listening.

"I lied. I like you. I like laughing with you, singing with you. I like the way you look at me when you're not glaring." _And, maybe, I like that too. I like knowing that you don't like me because of Connect 3 or the way I look. Maybe I even like that you don't like me because too many other people seem to but you know who I am and they don't._ "I like that you speak your mind and that you aren't afraid to break the rules to have a laugh. I like you throwing food as long as it's not at me so, yes. I like you."

Caitlyn rolled over slightly, leaves in her hair and a small smile on her face. She didn't look like she was mocking or about to pull him apart. "I like that you aren't afraid to stand up to anyone. I like that you don't pretend to be someone you're not. You stick up for people, even if you don't do it in a particularly nice way. You know what you want and even when you're pulling out you do it in style. I like that you aren't afraid to sing in public or play a piece that you're writing as you go along. I like that you don't make people feel left out."

"I don't?"

Caitlyn shrugged, smiling. "Not specifically. You're just a jerk to everyone. Consistent." She laughed. "I like what you said about how you see things lying on your back."

"Do you still think I'm an arrogant jerk?" He reached out with one hand, brushing some of the sticks from her hair.

She laughed. "I think you can be, but you can also be a lot of other things that all mingle together to make you Nate. And I like Nate."

Nate leant closer. "I like Caitlyn," he said quietly. "With or without magic helium." They were so close that it would've been so easy to lean forwards and kiss her, just once. It would've been easy to tell her that he'd never felt like this, he'd never talked to anyone like this, never met anyone like her before.

Except that he panicked, turning away to look up at the sky and swallow down the uncomfortable lump in his throat. "It's getting late."

That was all it took to break the mood, for Caitlyn to roll back on her back and sit up, looking at the sky. "I guess. We might miss dinner as well unless we go now. If you're coming to dinner, I mean."

Nate paused then reached out and pulled a couple of leaves off her back. "Why not, I can't hide forever, can I?" For the first time he remembered what Brown had said, he could leave camp if he wanted. Did he want to? "Unless I go home."

Caitlyn leant back slightly against him. "Why would you do that?" she asked, as though the idea wouldn't even have occurred to her. "Everyone you know is here. Your band is here."

Nate bit his lip, but he didn't dispute the point about Connect 3 being his band. "I could go home," he offered.

"But you're not going to."

"Why not?"

"Because you have to record the song for the dance group and you have to judge Final Jam and you have to hang around so I'm not forced to make up with Mitchie and the others. You're needed here." She smiled, moving away and standing up, holding out a hand for him to take. "I need you here."

Nate took it, pulling himself up slowly and picking up Brown's guitar. "Okay," he said, surprisingly easily as though that had been what he was planning all along. He glanced around and saw something he hadn't noticed before. He tightened his fingers to catch Caitlyn's attention and, when she glanced at him curiously, he touched his fingers to his lips.

"Look," he mouthed, nodding at the base of a tree bout five meters away in the direction of the camp where an acoustic guitar was leaning against a tree, a small brown bird standing on the lip. Caitlyn followed his look and a small smile touched the corners of her mouth. "Who'd have thought it?" he asked quietly.

Caitlyn's fingers closed slightly tighter around his. "Ele," she replied just as softly. "And Jason. Because they believe more than the rest of us that things can turn out alright."


	12. Chapter 12

_I can't help feeling I'm updating this too often. Oh well, I'm sure you'd all disagree (: and the reviews will make me happy (hint hint) _

_So, yeah, in writing I'm getting closer to the end (chapter 16 and final jam is in 6 days!) which means I need to decide at some point what to do next... currently I'm looking at 2 ideas. Connecting Three about Nate, Shane and Jason getting together (in various amusign brotherly ways) or Left Behind which would be set a year after this fic and would mostly feature Mitchie who has become a famous popstar but has also had a very bad break up with Shane and is attempting to get over a broken heart._

_If you have any other ideas/challenges/crazy suggestions please stick them in a review and at some point in the next few chapters there will be a poll of sorts. (:_

_-E_

* * *

Twelve

***Mitchie***

Mitchie looked over at Ele across the table. It felt strangely empty without Shane or Jason, even emptier than it had felt anyway without Nate's silently brooding presence. "Where are they?" she asked uncertainly.

Ele shrugged, poking her food with her fork but not eating it. "Jason said they needed to talk. Probably about Nate, that's the only thing anyone seems interested in at the moment. I went to my class but the teacher didn't show up and everyone was just talking about what he did. Maybe they're trying to think of a new third member of Connect 3." She sighed. "Are we still playing tonight?"

Mitchie shrugged. "I don't know. Have you seen Caitlyn around lately?" She couldn't help thinking about how loud Nate had been. As far as she knew, Caitlyn had never done anything that dramatic before. Was her friend okay? Who knew how magic helium could affect someone's body?

Ele shook her head. "Not that she would talk to me if I did see her. She's still sulking about the Nate thing. Maybe it wasn't such a good plan." She sighed. "I mean, it definitely didn't get Nate to open up to any of us, did it. He speaks even less than he did before and then he quits Connect 3. At least, we all assume he quits Connect 3. That's how much people are interpreting that song he sang. Maybe he just wanted more attention."

Mitchie shrugged again, but Ele seemed to want an answer. "I don't know. I mean, he's a pop star so it would be all _that_ hard to get attention when he wanted it."

"Yeah, but why else would he have played so loud?"

_Good question. Unfortunately, it's not Nate who has the answer and the girl who does I can't find anywhere._ "Maybe the amplifying system was on the bri –" she broke off, her eyes on the entrance to the canteen where the door had just swung open to reveal both the people she wanted to see. Nate was standing slightly behind Caitlyn, a dark red electric guitar pushed around to his side so he could walk. Why were they together? Had they been together all afternoon? What was going on here?

Nate glanced up at the top table then followed Caitlyn to a smaller three person table at the edge of the room, placing the guitar on the third seat as a clear indication that no one else was invited to sit with them.

"Okay," Ele said slowly. "What are those two doing together?"

"I..." Mitchie reached into her pocket for her phone, preparing to text Shane. "Don't know..."

That was when Jason and Shane arrived, glanced around the room and headed for the corner table.

***Caitlyn***

"Are you going to be helping out tonight?" Mrs Torres asked as Caitlyn stood at the front of the queue at the serving hatch. It had been good, the way the kitchen had accommodated the current feud. Well, mostly they'd just ignored it but Mrs Torres seemed to be going out of her way a little to be nice.

Caitlyn glanced over to where Nate was sitting. "Yes, I think so. Mitchie's not going to be there, is she?"

Mrs Torres sighed. "No, she's rehearsing with Ele for the jam tonight. They were doing some kind of epic remake of 'one, two, three, four, five' last I heard. I can't help thinking that as two exceptionally talented individuals they might be able to find something a _little_ more suitable. Still, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Sorry, did you want more?"

"Oh," Caitlyn realized she was holding up the whole queue. "Sorry, could I have another one? For a friend?" Mrs Torres smiled and turned away to start piling a second plate with food.

"A 'friend.'"

_Great,_ Caitlyn thought, putting her plate down and turning to see Tess standing behind her. _Something wicked this way comes._

"That friend wouldn't by any chance be the elusive Nate Grey." She reached out to pick up both plates in an amazing display of false friendship. "Would it?"

Ella leaned over beside her. "You, like, totally walked in with him, Caitlyn! You have to come sit with us and tell us _all_ about it. Where did you see him? Did you pick him up after he ran off?"

Caitlyn glanced across the canteen and saw the two seats at their table had been filled by Shane and Jason. _Great. Just great._ "I didn't 'pick him up' anywhere."

"Why's he interested in you?" Tess interrupted before she could continue. "Because he's shown, like, completely _no_ interest in _anyone_ else. I mean, my mom's T.J. Tyler and he just looked at me as though I was some kind of annoying boaster. He's completely rude."

"And _totally_ hot," Ella added, leaning closer. "So are you and he, you know?"

"No!" Caitlyn said, probably far too quickly. "I just... I needed to talk to him about... about stuff," she finished lamely. "Important stuff." She peered over Ella's shoulder to see Nate staring avidly down and, knowing him, completely failing to make things right with his brothers so he didn't have to give up what was, basically, the only thing he cared about in the slightest.

"Like?" Ella asked, leaning so far forward she looked in danger of falling over. "Come on, Caitlyn, we want sordid details here. We've talked to Ele but her and Jason just wonder around being completely oblivious of how much gossip there could be about their relationship. You and Nate have... have _intrigue._ You have unpredictability."

"Yeah," Caitlyn agreed, without really thinking. She reached out and took the plates from Tess' hands. "We have unpredictability in _spades._ What we _don't_ have, is a relationship."

She pushed past them, crossing the room to where Nate was and hoping she wasn't too late to stop him from messing everything up.

***Nate***

Caitlyn had gone to get them some food so Nate was alone when Jason and Shane both converged on him, putting Browns guitar on the table and taking control of both seats. Nate looked down at his fingers, refusing to meet either of their eyes and feeling the elation that had come from walking through the woods with Caitlyn and making stupid joke after stupid joke fading.

"Hey, bro," Shane opened, the nervousness in his voice showing too clearly that he thought Nate needed careful handling. "Where've you been?"

Nate reached out to pick up the fork lying on the table. "Around," he replied simply. _How did it end up that the only person I can talk to is a random girl who I barely know and who professes to hate me?_

"Do you need a hug?" Jason asked. "Because that _always_ cheers me –"

"I'm fine," Nate cut across him, glancing over his shoulder to see Caitlyn was still standing by the serving hatch, determinably ignoring the two girls who were apparently talking to her. "You know, there _is_ someone sitting there."

Shane laughed, as though the likelihood of Nate eating dinner with someone was so small that it didn't even deserve to be considered. "Look, mate, Brown talked to us. He said we had to let you go home, if you wanted. Do you want to go home? We could go with you, you know, talk about where to take the band next."

Nate didn't look up. "I thought I quit the band," he said in a low voice.

"No way," Jason leaned over to punch him in the shoulder.

Shane nodded. "He's right, Nate. Without you there wouldn't even _be_ a band. Remember?"

Nate shrugged. What could he say? Without Caitlyn there his doubts were all starting to return, the feeling of panic and paranoia. "You could replace me. Mitchie and Ele both play guitar."

"But they're not _you,_" Jason said, as though it was completely obvious.

"You noticed."

"What Jason is trying to say," Shane provided. "Is that we don't want Mitchie or Ele in the band because that's not what Connect 3 is about. Connect 3 is about me, you and Jason doing what we love. If you're not in the band, there is no band and Connect 3 can do something else."

Jason smiled suddenly. "Hey, we could open a gardening shop. Call it 'Connect Tree' and sell musical based garden equipment or garden-based musical equipment."

A plate was slid in front of Nate and he glanced around to see Caitlyn had moved up beside him and was smiling, she rested a hand on his shoulder looking at Shane. Nate found himself smiling very slightly and realised he knew what to do.

"Well," he said, with an air of self-sacrifice. "There is no _way_ I'm working in a music-based garden shop _or_ a garden-based music shop so I guess I have no choice but to rejoin the band."

It was amazing how Jason and Shane's faces both lit up. _Maybe they were telling the truth,_ he thought in surprise. _Maybe they really _do_ like me... how weird is that?_

"But that doesn't mean I've forgiven you for the music hut thing," he added. "So if you could just, you know, _leave._ That would be fine."

"You won't regret this," Shane said with a bright smile. "I promise you won't."

Nate rolled his eyes. "I already am. Get moving."

Jason and Shane moved away quickly, hi fiving when they were two tables away and, apparently, believed they were out of sight. Caitlyn slid into the seat opposite, sliding her plate down. "Well done."

"I thought you hated both their guts."

"And?" She speared a chicken nugget on the end of her fork. "Doesn't mean you can't be in a band with them. I mean, we can't hate all their guts forever. At some point they're going to have to do something incredible and we'll make up with them and _then_ you can be in Connect 3 and you won't regret this day for the rest of your life."

Nate raised his eyebrows, picking up a chip with his fingers and biting into it. "You put far too much thought into this kind of thing."

She smiled. "I'm female, Nate. I can breathe and think at the _same time_."

"Funny."

"I thought so." She glanced over at the top table where Mitchie and Ele were looking left out while Shane and Jason had an enthusiastic conversation which seemed to involve a lot of arm waving and knocking over of tomato ketchup bottles. "Nate," she asked suddenly, without even thinking. He would say no, but that didn't mean she couldn't try. "I'm helping in the kitchen tonight. You want to come help me?"

Nate tilted his head to the side. "Do I _want_ to spend my evening up to the elbows in soap suds while I clean tomato ketchup stains off other people's plates? Let me think..."

Caitlyn smiled. "I'll find you a chocolate bar."

"What kind?"

"Milk. We might even have one with nuts in."

Nate smiled suddenly. "Okay," he said, surprisingly easily. "I'm sold. But you're doing the washing of dishes."

"Of course, the great Nathan Grey would not dream of doing something so menial as washing his own plates."

"No way!" Nate smiled. "At the Grey mansion we put all our dirty plates into piles and every Saturday we throw them at the wall in the plate room and they break into many tiny pieces then we send the maidservants out to buy more. 'More plates for the kitchen,' we say and off they scurry."

***Caitlyn***

She almost snorted ketchup up her nose at the sight of Nate waving his fork and calling for more plates. "And what do you do with the pieces?" she asked. "Of the old plates?"

Nate shrugged. "We leave them on the floor. Jason cultivates the mould for his Moltar. When the room fills up completely we shut the door and lock it, putting a sign on the front warning us never to darken its doorstep again and we move to another plate room."

"How many rooms are off limits now?"

Nate paused, stroking an imaginary beard in mock thought. "It depends," he said eventually. "On whether our little brother finished Plate Room Five while we were gone."

Caitlyn laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Okay," Nate admitted. "I lied. We have a dishwasher and a mom. Like many kids, in fact, but I can assure you I have washed dishes in the past. Sometimes we were required to fend for ourselves and we were left strict guidelines, one of which was that we weren't allowed to throw plates at _any_ of the walls in the house."

"Whatever did you do?"

"We went outside and threw them at the shed." Nate leant forwards, pushing his fork into one of her chips. "These are surprisingly good. Anyone would think Mitchie's mom could cook."

"God forbid a professional caterer can _cook._" She reached out and stole one of his nuggets as punishment. "You should tell her that you like her chips when we'd go back there. I think she might feint in shock."

"And then we could sneak away into the night leaving the dishes unwashed! You're a criminal mastermind."

***Mitchie***

"I don't get it," Mitchie said, looking across the canteen at Nate and Caitlyn. "Does this mean the Plan succeeded or the Plan failed?"

"Nate's talking to people," Ele said, defending her plan.

"True," Mitchie agreed. "But neither Nate n_or_ Caitlyn is talking to the rest of us." She bit her lip. "And I said I'd play with Caitlyn at Final jam, we had it all prepared."

"What were you singing about?"

Mitchie was slightly distracted so she didn't really think before replying. "Helium." At that moment , Shane and Jason both seemed to see fit to include them in the conversation again.

"What were you saying?"

"We were wondering," Ele replied, reaching over to steal Jason's chips. "If this means the Plan worked or not."

"It was an awesome plan." Jason smiled at Ele who immediately turned slightly red. Mitchie glanced across the table at Shane who was smiling slightly at the other two.

_Sometimes,_ she thought to herself. _It's hard to believe Jason's the eldest._ "Except we locked them in the wrong hut," she reminded them. "Which meant they must have been freezing. Brown only heated hut two."

"Which is why we now have to clean the music huts instead," Ele interrupted. "I _know_ but that doesn't mean the plan _failed._ That was just... a hiccup. I mean, Nate's clearly _talking_ to Caitlyn."

"He quit Connect 3," Mitchie pointed out.

Shane raised a hand. "Then came back," he informed them. "Or never left, I'm not really sure which. He's definitely still _in_ Connect 3 as of right now."

Jason smiled brightly. "We're together again," he said happily. "Connect 3: Connected." He glanced at his watch. "It's seven thirty, are you two still jamming tonight?"

Startled, Mitchie glanced down at her own wrist and saw that he was right. "If we can get the cleaning done on time." She pushed the remains of her meal towards Shane. "You can finish it off."

Shane shook his head. "We'll come with you," he said, glancing at Jason. "Many hands make light work, as they say, and we can head to the jam together afterwards. Menial labour; it could be fun."

Mitchie smiled, taking her plate back. "If you say so."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn had to admit, the task of cleaning the kitchen was made a lot more fun by Nate pretending to ride on a mop and yelling things like 'apprentice wizard, coming through!' as he splattered her unceremoniously with water and 'I still think we should've thrown them at the walls' after which she moved all the plates out of his reach. He even went as far as to congratulate Mitchie's mum on her cooking (Admittedly he'd congratulated her while happily stealing from the bowl of tomatoes intended for lunch tomorrow. But it was progress.)

Afterwards, when Mrs Torres had wrestled the mop out of his hands and given him his chocolate bar she admitted to Caitlyn that the cleaning had seemed to go quicker.

"You certainly seem to have mellowed him," she remarked as they stood back while Nate had a fierce debate with Mitchie's dad over the relative merits of dark chocolate. "What brought all this on?"

Caitlyn shrugged. "He's not that bad," she said, wondering if Hell had just frozen over. "Not when you get to know him. He just has a few... problems."

"He's an amazing musician though, isn't he? I heard him singing earlier. I've never really given Connect 3 much thought before, they were just a band Mitchie liked, but he's good."

"He's incredibly good looking too," Nate added, grinning and walking back to them, the empty chocolate wrapper in one hand. "And extraordinarily modest."

Caitlyn laughed. "Sure you are. Well, Mrs Torres, thanks for putting up with us."

Mitchie's mum smiled. "Anytime, Caitlyn. Nate, will you be coming back to help us tomorrow? It's taco night and with Mitchie off elsewhere we could really do with an extra hand."

Caitlyn couldn't help noticing that Mrs Torres was carefully avoiding mentioning that Mitchie wasn't coming _because_ Caitlyn was coming.

"Depends," Nate replied, lifting the wrapper. "On how many more of these you have and whether your husband is prepared to change his stance on the idea that dark chocolate is a lesser creation." Then he smiled, looking strangely sincere. "Why not? I'll come with Caitlyn after my dance class."

"Oh you're a dancer?"

Nate grinned. "Multi-talented, gorgeous and modest I may be but the _last_ thing I am is a dancer. I dance in the same way pigs fly."

Caitlyn laughed, walking across the kitchen to him. "Come on, trouble. I need to change before we go to the Jam."

"We?" Nate said in mock surprise as they left the kitchen. "I don't recall agreeing to such a thing."

"I don't care, I'm playing something and I think you should be there."

"Why?"

"To support me." She trailed off then found it surprisingly easy to turn to him and say. "I'm running out of friends here, Nate. Just come along. It'll be a laugh, I promise."

For a moment she could've sworn he was going to say no, he was going to walk away and not look back.

Then, to the surprise of her and, probably, him too, he shrugged. "Fine. But I need to change first, I'm still covered in mud and who knows what else."

Caitlyn hugged him before she really thought about it. Just flung her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

He laughed, tousling her hair before stepped back, out of reach. "I'll come down to your cabin to pick you up when I'm ready then. Bring chocolate."

"You'll get fat."

"I'm prepared to take that risk."

***Nate***

It wasn't that bad, he supposed, standing in the trees at the edge of the outdoor stage with Caitlyn beside him, clutching her laptop bag and muttering comments which made no sense such as 'left then right then straight on the roll' and occasionally grab his hand as though looking for comfort. He wasn't sure quite how much he could give and was trying not to be even slightly aware of the girls who kept looking away from Lola's performance to look at him. He wasn't sure what was so incredible. He was wearing jeans and a black sweater with his acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder.

"Wish me luck," Caitlyn murmured when she walked past and up to the stage. She was moving through the crowd before Nate really processed what she'd said and by the time he replied: 'Good luck.' She was already on the stage. He waved instead, smiling at her in what he hoped was an encouraging way.

The piece was good, surprisingly different from what he had kind of been expecting considering he'd only heard her sing or play piano in the past but what she did now was just music combined with modern dance which worked around the way she was playing the keyboard. The laptop was somehow part of it too, doing complicated things which Nate suspected he wouldn't understand even if someone explained it to him. Computers really weren't his thing.

She finished to a wave of applause and Nate smiled as she blushed and stood up to bow, clapping with the rest as she grabbed her laptop and headed off stage, straight towards him. "Was I okay?"

Nate smiled. "It was amazing. Really. I'm starting to think I'm not so amazingly talented as I always thought I was. It's a blow to my pride, but I soldier on."

Caitlyn laughed distractedly. "And I was good? You promise?"

"You were incredible, I swear."

"Okay." She smiled. "You should play something."

Nate's fingers automatically reached for the guitar, even as he shook his head. "Haven't I made enough concessions for you tonight?"

"You're making up for a summer of bad behaviour." Her uncertainty was gone as she turned to yell at Brown who was mumbling something about Ele and Mitchie not being there yet. "Nate's going to play something!"

"No he's not," Nate told her. "He's really not."

Caitlyn just smiled, grabbing his hand and trying to pull him forward, somewhat ineffectually considering he was almost a head taller than her. "I'll play with you. It'll be cool."

It was strange how easy he gave into her these days with just a shrug. _Why not?_ He looked her up and down briefly. "Do you play drums?"

She looked a bit surprised then smiled. "If the keyboard has a drum kit function. Which it does." She bounded forwards and he followed, less enthusiastically, behind.

"Nate," Brown said as he passed. "About earlier –"

"I made a mistake," Nate said simply. "I'm over it now."

"And Connect 3..."

"A strictly Grey Brothers Only, 3 person band."

"I'm glad. That was the right decision."

Nate shrugged, stepping past him. "It was the _only_ decision." He stepped onto the stage and, for half a moment, could feel the weight of all the fans above him and their screams _I have his top, Nate grey._

"You ready?"

He shook himself. The sun was setting behind him. The crowd was small, made of musicians and some people from his dance group and, just arriving at the back, his brothers and assorted girls who all hopefully hated him enough to think attacking him wouldn't be worth the effort. "Let's go. One two. One two three four."

He started playing, one of the songs from his solo tour which had always gone down well with the crowd. He realised, as he stepped forwards to sing, that there wasn't a mike there but when he sang it came out as thought there was. _Maybe one's hidden,_ he thought as a few members of the crowd who seemed to be fans started joining it. _Maybe it's _'magic helium.' He laughed to himself, feeling more light-hearted than he had in a while.

"_And that's the dream I want to take you to_

_Cause there's nothing in my treasure chest but all of_

_My time with you_

_So Take my hand and we'll see this through_

_We'll see this through."_

He glanced instinctively around at Caitlyn who just smiled encouragingly. _This is for you,_ he found himself thinking, silently. He would never have done anything like this a few days ago, nothing this spontaneous in front of people. Caitlyn was definitely changing him. _For the better?_

"_And I love you _

_When the sun shines high_

_And I love you _

_When the moon's in the sky_

_And I love you_

_When you're the one thing I can trust_

_But I love you most_

_When you're not 'you'_

_But 'us.'_

_And that's the dream I want to take you to_

_Cause there's nothing in my treasure chest but all of_

_My time with you_

_So Take my hand and we'll see this through_

_We'll see this through._

_You and me, me and you."_

* * *

If anyone wants the last song in full I can put it into a review reply for you. (Now I just look like I'm begging for them... oh well (: )


	13. Chapter 13

_FIC!!! That's basicaly all the coherancy I can manage right now..._

_Uh, this is chapter 13. I'm still contemplating ideas for my next fic (and, yes, I'm starting to get plot bunnies about a _possible_ Naitlyn wedding fic but it would be a one-shot... probably... still, this fic was supposed to be short and look what happened) so feel free to keep giving suggestions._

_I don't know how to respond to anonymous reviews anywhere but here so: yes, I was made aware 3 chapters in that cordless guitars do exist. My hasty excuse is they may exist but... um... Nate hasn't got one. (:_

_I hope you like this chapter._

_-E_

* * *

Thirteen

***Shane***

Shane had spent almost ten minutes pacing up and down in front of Brown's desk, his uncle leaning his chin against his hands to watch the journey before he eventually spoke. "I don't know what to do." He stopped suddenly, spinning to face the camp director. "I don't know what to _do,_ Brown! He's my _brother_, shouldn't that _mean_ something? Shouldn't that mean I should be able to _help_ him or at least _know_ if he needs it!" He spun on his heel to pace again. "I mean, it's one thing for him to _say_ he's still in Connect 3 but he won't talk to any of us and then he did that stupid song at the camp fire and just walked away afterwards with Caitlyn."

"Yes," Brown managed, almost timidly in the face of Shane's frustration. "They seem to be getting on, don't they? Nate and Caitlyn."

"Caitlyn," Shane snarled, clenching his fists. "Don't even get me _started_ on Caitlyn. What's she even playing at? I mean, one minute she's the only person on camp who _doesn't_ like Nate and suddenly they're best buds? When did that _happen?_"

Brown raised his eyebrows. "It couldn't have been related to you locking her in a room with him for a night I suppose. Not even slightly?"

"That wasn't the _Plan._" Shane actually did kick the desk this time. "The plan was for him to talk to _us._ Which neither him nor Caitlyn is doing which means Mitchie's getting depressed and nothing's _working._ Why is nothing working?"

Brown shrugged as though to say he had no idea which really wasn't helping. "Maybe the Plan failed."

"The Plan can't _fail._ It was Ele's Plan. She's _clever._" He kicked the table another time. "I _hate_ this!"

"What do you want me to do, Shane? I can't change what's happened. I tried having a heart to heart with your brother and all he did was quit the band. We know what happened to him but it doesn't _help_ because he still doesn't talk about it. He isn't _over_ it. He played acoustic the other night."

"But he played," Brown reminded him. "He played and that's a start isn't it? What was the song, it was a love song wasn't it? You don't think... him and Caitlyn."

"No," Shane said quickly, shaking his head. "No _way_. Caitlyn and Nate hate each other. That's an old song, he wrote it last year when he was going out with some girl. It was really strange, they just kept saying how much they loved each other then they broke up because apparently Nate had forgotten some kind of anniversary." He tilted his head as though remembering. "That was one _weird _time." He shook himself. "But it's not the _point._"

Brown sighed. "I can't help you, Shane. I don't know any more than you do, less even seeing as you know Nate better than I ever could. Have you made any more progress on this strange, temperamental sound system."

Shane let out a long sigh, dropping into the chair opposite Brown. No," he replied wearily. "Mitchie knows, don't ask me how but she knows. She just keeps saying that she 'promised them she wouldn't say anything.'"

"That makes it sound like a person."

"I know. I said, 'what do you think this is, a magic trick?' but she just smiled slightly and walked away. What if it is magic?" He looked down at his hands. "I'd never have thought it possible it's just... when Nate did that song he would never have wanted it that loud and I've looked it up but systems that amplify all instruments, let you hear two voices in harmony when you sing a solo. These things just aren't _possible._ Not in the normal way we see the world."

Brown titled his head curiously for a moment then looked up as there was a knock on the door. "Maybe," he offered. "You ought to take another look at the way you see the world. People have a tendency to take things for granted that are nothing close to normal. Now, you have a class to finish teaching and I have a camp to run so if you wouldn't mind."

Shane glanced around to see the door open and someone push their head through the gap. "Okay," he conceded, pushing the chair back and standing up. "But I don't know how I'm going to sort this."

"No one knows how to do everything, Shane. We just muddle along and hope we're going the right way." He smiled at the girl. "Come in, is this about reserving a place in final jam?"

Shane pushed open the door and left the hut, meeting Mitchie down the bottom of the stairs. "He can't help us," he said simply, heading towards their lesson. "He doesn't know what to do about Nate, you're still the only person who knows anything about whatever's happening to all our instruments."

"They don't want anyone to know."

"Yeah? Well that's not helping the rest of us, Mitchie. We're trying to sort this and you know all the answers but –"

"I promised."

"And Nate? Maybe it would help him if he knew."

Mitchie shrugged. "I doubt it."

"Mitchie." They both looked around in surprise to see Nate standing on the path in front of him, his hands in his jeans pockets. "Can I talk to you?"

Mitchie glanced at Shane in surprise and he shrugged. "Nate, are you okay?"

"I'm not sure." He replied, apparently trying to be truthful. "Mitchie?"

"If... if you want." She shrugged her guitar off her shoulder and passed it to Shane. "Start without me." Then she headed off the path towards Nate, leaving Shane looking after her and wondering what Nate might have to say to his girlfriend that he couldn't say to him.

***Mitchie***

Mitchie had to jog briefly to catch up with Nate as he walked away, his guitar swinging by his side. "Why me?" she asked, moving beside him. "I mean, I was the one who locked you in the hut. Wouldn't you rather talk to your brother, or Brown?"

Nate shrugged. "You're lucky I'm talking to any of you. I just need some answers."

"What kind of answers?"

"The ones that come at the end of questions." He stopped in a small pathway between huts and glanced around, apparently to check they were alone. "You're Caitlyn's friend?"

Mitchie glanced around uncertainly, wondering what this was about. "I was, yeah. I'm not sure if she likes me too much anymore though. She was kind of against the plan to lock you two up together, same as you were."

Nate shrugged. "Doesn't matter. She used to talk to you about things, right?"

"She told me some stuff I suppose. Look, she's not talking to me anymore. Why don't you ask her yourself seeing as you're the only person she'll say more than two words to right now?" She took a step back, walking into a cabin by mistake.

"Magic helium," Nate said.

It felt like all the air had been knocked from her lungs. _How could he... did she tell him? Why would she have told him?_ Maybe she'd misheard. She swallowed uncertainly. "What...?"

"Magic helium," he repeated, slower and in tones that meant there could be no doubt. "Tell me about it."

"What... what kind of thing did you want to know?" she had been going for uncaring and unknowing but realised too late that any normal person would just have told Nate he was crazy.

"Everything."

***Caitlyn***

"I believe you."

Caitlyn turned around in surprise. She'd been mixing parts from the piece they'd played last night which she had recorded on her laptop in her private cabin but apparently private wasn't quite as private as it used to be. She saved the file before turning around and seeing Nate standing in the doorway, an electric guitar in one hand and a serious expression on his face. "You... what?"

"I believe you," he knocked the door shut and walked over to sit on Mitchie's bed, watching her. "About the helium thing, about the magic. It's not Brown's system, it's not anyone's system and there doesn't seem to be another explanation for anything." He slid the guitar strap over his shoulder and started plucking the strings. It was strange that Caitlyn could tell from the way he hunched slightly and didn't look up that he was nervous.

"You... believe me?" she repeated, unable to keep the disbelief from her voice.

Nate glanced up at her then struck a chord. She clutched her throat in surprise as the chord echoed around the room. "Yes," he agreed after watching her reaction. "I definitely believe you."

Caitlyn grabbed a bottle of water off her desk, drinking a long mouthful to cool her throat then stood up, walking over to her own bed and sitting cross-legged on it. "You don't just think it's a joke?" she asked warily. "And this isn't a trick?"

Nate shook his head. "I talked to Mitchie. She told me about it. You can make electric guitars play without amps, you can let people sings solos in harmony... that's a weird one – but you can't control it and it doesn't have a catalyst."

"Catalyst?"

He smiled. "It's like the spark which starts a reaction. You don't know what causes it."

"Oh." She realised suddenly that she did know now and blushed. "Well, I mean, I _used_ to not know what caused it. Then I kind of... found out... by accident. Well, I don't know if I'm right but it was something I noticed and –"

"You're babbling," Nate interrupted.

"Oh." She blushed again. "Right, sorry." She looked down at her hands then summoned a bit of courage and looked up into Nate's eyes. She could do this. It wasn't like telling Mitchie because she'd never really thought Mitchie would believe her and had expected to be laughed at but it had still hurt. When Nate laughed, he laughed as though he thought what you'd said was amusing rather than stupid. He laughed like he was waiting for you to join in.

"The catalyst," Nate prompted.

To her surprise, she smiled at him. "Nate, during this camp have you ever played your guitar _without_ it sounding like it was plugged in."

He thought for a moment. "A few times near the start definitely," he said eventually. "But recently... no, it's always –" he broke off, looking as though he'd just realised something very strange. "Wait, you're not trying to say that..."

"You're the catalyst?" Caitlyn offered. "Yeah, I think I am."

It was Nate's turn to look uncomfortable.

***Nate***

His first thought was that it couldn't work. His second thought was a realisation that it obviously _did._ After all, her helium thing had definitely worked for him several times on a scale it had never worked for anyone else. His third thought was _why me?_ After all, he hadn't had any kind of connection to Caitlyn except a mutual loathing until... he wanted to say until in the woods but if he was being truthful he would admit that maybe there had been something before that. But it had just been that he enjoyed being in the company of a non-fangirl.

"Why me?" he asked slowly.

Caitlyn shrugged, blushing a fierce red and looking away from his eyes. "Because... you're good at music?" she offered helplessly.

"This is a music camp though," he reminded her. "There are a _lot_ of people here who are good at music. When do you think I became the catalyst?" It was strange talking about himself like that.

She shook her head weakly. "I don't know, Nate. I don't know anything about it. I didn't like you, now I do but you were definitely the catalyst before yesterday."

Nate found himself smiling very slightly. "Maybe you liked me before yesterday," he offered, reaching out one hand to take hers in his. It was strange how easy it was to touch her. Shane and Mitchie held hands but they blushed very slightly when they hugged or kissed. With Caitlyn it just felt natural, easy.

She looked up at him, smiling very slightly. "I don't know about that." She stood up, moving to sit on the bed beside him and leaning her head on his shoulder. "Maybe you're the catalyst because you're the most comfortable person I know," she offered sleepily, her breath warm against his neck. "It's clearly a cunning magic helium derived plan to cause you to come and visit me to quiz me so I can lean on you."

Nate laughed, sliding his arm around her shoulders instead. "Maybe I should defy the helium and leave you to lean against walls."

"Nooo," she moaned quietly.

He laughed again, his fingers stroking the tips of her hair lightly. "_Someone_ didn't go to sleep when they returned to their cabin last night, did they? Speaking from experience: if you're going to go to bed at one in the morning, make sure you'll be able to sleep in."

Caitlyn made a small noise of protest. "It wasn't one in the morning!"

Nate raised his eyebrows.

"Well," she amended. "Not quite, anyway and it was just because I had this really good idea that I wanted to play with. If I'd left it I would've forgotten it." She shifted against him slightly. "You have to come help with tacos tonight, you promised."

"We have a class to finish first," Nate reminded her, reaching across her to pick up her wrist and check her watch. "Which we're late for."

She didn't seem all that fussed about this, just shrugged against his shoulder. "They'll probably get on better without you. You'd just try and go to sleep again."

"_I_ would try and go to sleep?" Nate quizzed in mock shock. "Says the girl who's currently falling asleep on top of me."

"You're comfortable."

He laughed slightly but pushed her head off him. "Come on, Caitlyn." He pushed himself up then held out a hand to pull her to her feet as well. "By the way, I think we should start talking to Mitchie again. She was helpful with the helium thing, and I guess the cabin thing didn't turn out so bad." He slid an arm around her shoulders. "Yu might never have found out that I was the catalyst otherwise." He smiled. "Fancy that. Talented, gorgeous, modest and a magic catalyst. Sometimes I overwhelm myself."

She laughed, hitting him lightly. "You missed off sullen, temperamental and idiotic."

"It's all part of my charm."

***Mitchie***

Mitchie hid by the kitchen door for ten minutes, watching as her parents walked forwards and back and, once, _Nate_ walked out to eat a handful of, presumably stolen, chips then headed back inside. The knees of her jeans were soaked right through before, finally, Caitlyn stepped out the door.

She stood up quickly, causing the other girl to visibly jump. "Mitchie," she said in surprise. "You scared me."

"Sorry," Mitchie said quickly. "I mean, sorry... for everything. We thought the plan would work and we didn't consider your part in it and I wasn't thinking." She bit her lip, fully expecting Caitlyn to walk away.

To her complete surprise the other girl just shrugged. "Okay," she said simply.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, apology accepted." She smiled. "It had to happen soon, didn't it. I mean, we've got that piece to rehearse for final jam and there's no _way_ I'm walking away without the jackpot this year." She smiled then leant forwards and hugged Mitchie. "Plus, I think I've left you kneeling in the mud for long enough."

It took a few moments for that remark to sink in then Mitchie pulled back. "You know I was out here?"

Caitlyn laughed. "Not the best hiding place I'm afraid. Your mom saw you as soon as she came out to pick up the last bag of cheese. Nate said you looked very uncomfortable when he came out."

"Nate," Mitchie repeated, reminded of her reason for coming. "Yes, why did you tell him about the helium? Or what did you tell him? Because he came to me and I'm not sure why..." It had just been a strange conversation and Nate had been polite throughout, even thanking her at the end before running away somewhere.

Caitlyn shrugged uncertainly. "I told him that his guitar had been really loud during the Break-up song because of magic helium and he laughed like it was just a really amusing joke. Then today he came into my cabin after talking to you and said he believed it. All of it. Just like that. Did you really tell him everything?"

Mitchie nodded. "He seemed persistent and Shane's been saying how we have to be nice to him or he'll never talk to any of us again." She glanced at the door to the kitchen, suddenly struck by another thought. "Wait, what's Nate doing in there?"

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn knocked open the door behind her with one hand in order to glance through then turn back. "Duck impressions," she replied casually. "You know if you get two tacos and put them kind of like –"

"Why is Nate doing duck impressions with tacos in the kitchen?" Mitchie asked, looking as though her whole world had just collapsed around her. "He hates working and mom doesn't let anyone in who isn't helping."

"He's helpful when he wants to be." There was the sound of a crash inside. "Though he's not the most co-ordinated member of the team I must admit." She glanced back through the doorway in time to see Mitchie's mum beckoning.

"Get back in here and get your trained ape out of my cupboards!"

Caitlyn laughed. "Who says he's trained?" She turned back to Mitchie. "I'll meet you after tea, okay? Back at our hut to practice. I've got to go now, you know how it is." She reached for the door.

"I... wait!"

Caitlyn turned back in surprise. "What?"

"It's just... could Ele come to our rehearsal too? I mean, she hasn't really got any friends here apart from me and the boys and they aren't allowed to be in final jam. No one wants to rehearse alone."

_The winner last year was a soloist,_ she thought, but she didn't say anything because she supposed Mitchie was right. She hadn't really seen Ele making a great deal of friends on camp. "If she must," she replied with a sigh. "But I don't see how we can fit her in."

"Oh, she's not going to play with us. She has some kind of idea which she won't talk about but I said she could sit in on us if she wanted to... if that's okay."

Caitlyn shrugged. "Okay," she agreed reluctantly. "Anyway, I'll see you then."

"You aren't coming into the food hall?"

"Nah, me and Nate were going to grab something back here. Makes sense seeing as we're on clearing up tonight as well. Go get back to Ele, I'm sure she'll be lonely without you." The parting shot was just a brief acknowledgement that everything wasn't perfect between them. She ducked back through the door and was instantly engulfed by Nate's arms.

"Save me," he whined. "They keep threatening to tie me up."

She laughed. "What did you break this time?"

Mitchie's mum turned around from where she was chopping vegetables. "Remind me why we let him in the kitchen."

"Amusement factor," Mr Torres replied simply, carrying a tray of chip bowls over. "I have to say, I've never laughed so much in catering than I have in the times Nate's been in the room."

Caitlyn extricated herself from Nate in order to walk over to the bowls. To her complete surprise, he pulled her back slightly and kissed her once.

Then she was still walking towards the table, Nate following, and all she could think was: _did that just happen? Or was I dreaming?_

"Can I come tonight?" he asked casually. "I mean, I'm not really talking to anyone else and if I'm still in Connect 3 and everything then I don't have an excuse to sit and write moping songs in the dark, do I?"

The 'no' was on the tip of her tongue. Then she remembered that Mitchie was bringing a friend with the excuse that Ele would be lonely. _Well, _she thought to herself. _Nate's lonely. If Ele can come then I'm taking that as an open invitation for friend. _"Yeah, course."

"Really?"

She laughed, turning back to him and pushing a bag of chips into his hands. "Really as long as you don't eat these ones."

"Harsh, but fair." He kissed her again before heading around the other side of the table. She had a feeling she was grinning like a complete idiot but she really didn't care.

* * *

_What can I say? I don't like epic Disney moments leading up to passionate first kisses. (:_


	14. Chapter 14

_As far as I can tell, not much happens in this chapter. But you have to read it because there's fluff at the end (:_

_I'm still open for ideas of fics post-CR._

_Review make me happy and I write when I'm happy (: Also, when I'm happy the characters are more likely to be happy and there will be more fluff and less angst. Thatwas a roundabout way of saying 'please R&R' (:_

_-Ekkah_

* * *

Fourteen

Mitchie and Ele had been waiting for almost an hour, tossing an old ball back and forth as they waited before they heard footsteps outside the cabin and jumped to their feet as the door swung open to reveal Nate and Caitlyn, both with wet hair and clean clothes and laughing about something. Caitlyn glanced around, saw Mitchie, and laughed harder. "Your face," she managed after a moment, pushing wet hair off her face and stepping in, dragging Nate after here. "Priceless. Hi Ele."

Nate raised a hand, looking slightly meek beneath the wet hair that was strangely flat across his forehead. "Hi Shane's girlfriend." His eyes turned to Ele. "Hi crazy girl."

"You promised you would be nice," Caitlyn chided good naturedly as she walked over to the desk and her laptop, leaving Nate standing awkwardly. "That was the only reason I let you shower first." She turned to Mitchie. "So, what're we doing?"

Mitchie was still watching Nate as he pulled the door shut and sat down, leaning back against it. "What's he doing here?" she asked, her eyes turning to Caitlyn. "Did you invite him?"

Caitlyn shrugged as though it was no big deal. What had happened to her hating Nate? When did that end? "I figured seeing as you brought a friend I could too. I mean, Nate hasn't really got a lot of friends here apart from... well, he hasn't really got a lot of friends here." She flashed Mitchie a bright smile which was a little too innocent when it went with her repeating Mitchie's words back to her.

"We're not supposed to have guys in our hut," Mitchie protested, falling back on the rules as a last attempt to get Nate out of her cabin and, ideally, out of her life. He may well be a great guy and all deep down but that surely didn't mean she had to like him. Or, you know, endure him.

"Live dangerously." Caitlyn opened her laptop. "Anyway, it's not like he hasn't been in here before." She picked up the machine, heading over to her bed. Ele quickly moved back to sit beside Mitchie, apparently regarding anyone who could call Nate a friend as a strange foreign creature.

"I don't think –" Mitchie started, but Caitlyn cut her off.

"Look," she snapped, turning away from her laptop and seeming needlessly harsh. "You locked me in a freezing cabin overnight. I forgave you because that's what friends do and because Nate said he didn't think you were so bad but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about it. I would say you owe me one but I think you both owe me quite a bit more than that. Nate is currently the person in this camp who's been the _least_ like a jerk to me so I want him here."

Caitlyn took a deep breath then beckoned Nate over. He pushed himself up from his, frankly very uncomfortable, sitting position and walked over to the bed where he sat up against the headboard.

"I'm s-" Mitchie started.

"Save it," Caitlyn seemed slightly calmer. "I don't want apologies or anything, I just want us to get on, okay?" He glanced over her shoulder at Nate. "He's not that bad when you get used to him. He's also shockingly ruthless when it comes to food fights."

"Food fights?" Mitchie quizzed.

Nate smirked. "We had some tomato sauce left over," he explained with a grin, reaching up to touch his recently washed hair. "So we put it to use as entertainment. I've got to say Mitchie, your mum makes some pretty good food but when it comes to chucking it she had the worse aim I have ever _seen._" He laughed at her shocked expression. "Don't worry, we cleared it all up after. I think if we hadn't your mom might have killed us... a little."

Caitlyn shot him a look which was clearly supposed to be a glare but it didn't work all that well. In fact, she had really been unable to do anything but smile at him since the first kiss.

The first kiss... Nate still felt a strange tingly feeling when he thought of it. It hadn't been planned or considered. He'd just done it because she'd been pulling away and he wanted some way to keep her close to him. He'd done it because she'd looked so pretty with the lights framing her and it had just felt so natural. As though he kissed girls on a daily basis rather than, well, never.

After a few moments puzzling, Mitchie gave up the attempt to determine precisely _why_ Nate and Caitlyn were acting so _friendly._ "We still need to decide what to sing," she said instead, turning to Caitlyn. "I mean, last year we had all the stuff with Shane and _This is Me _was the obvious choice but this year's just been really good for me." She tapped the book against her hand. "I don't know, I mean, we want something with _meaning."_

"Your music's gotta be who you really are," Nate interrupted. Mitchie turned to look at him but he didn't seem to be paying attention. "It's gotta show how you feel." He looked up but he wasn't looking at Michie, he was watching Caitlyn. "Or it doesn't mean anything."

Caitlyn turned her head slightly and found herself looking into Nate's deep brown eyes. _It's gotta be who you really are..._ she was reminded of all the songs he'd sung. However spontaneous they were, they always meant something to him. They were always written to tell someone _something._

She reached out to take Mitchie's song book and flicked through it. "We could write one together," she offered. "I mean, with the helium I could do the harmonies and it would be how we both feel." She glanced at Nate. "Would that work?"

The pop star shrugged, tapping a rhythm out on his knees. "Dunno, it's Brown's saying. Do what feels right."

Caitlyn turned back to Mitchie and saw Ele looking at them both, apparently confused. "What?"

"Helium?" she asked uncertainly. "What can you do with helium? I mean, besides the obvious."

Caitlyn smiled at her. It was easy to be casual about this now. Nate knew, Mitchie knew, neither of them were judging her for it so as long as they stayed with her, what did the rest of the camp matter? "I can breathe magic helium. We could work that into the song somewhere, I think." She turned back to Mitchie who was biting her lip thoughtfully.

"Yeah," she agreed slowly. "Yeah, that could work. You'll be doing the backing music like last time, won't you?" She glanced at Nate. "Presumably you won't have to improvise due to an impromptu sing-along session with... anyone."

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows at the unsubtle hinting. What was she supposed to say? She wasn't _dating_ Nate. She didn't even know if he liked... okay, maybe she did know he liked her. That didn't mean anything... really.

"Don't worry about me," Nate replied for her. "I'm not a big fan of Disney moments."

Ele took this moment to pull back into the conversation. "Wait... _magic_ helium? How does that work?"

Caitlyn turned to her, relieved to have the question she could answer. "No idea." Well... she could answer it in a way. "But it seems pretty music based. If Nate sings something, you can probably see it for yourself but –"

"Caitlyn!" Mitchie interrupted. "Final Jam is in a week, a _week!_ We need to get started." She looked between Ele and Nate. "Guys... we need to get writing and everything. How about you both go outside and get caught up and we'll call you back in when we're done."

Caitlyn looked over at her. _What's up with her now? Is she that fed up of Nate? _But her eyes fell on the diary in her friend's hand with the crossed out days. She looked as though she'd just been counting on her fingers and hadn't been anticipating what she would find.

_Wait... a _week? _Where has all the time gone?_ She glanced at Nate. "You'll be fine with Ele." It was more a pleading statement than a question. "It'll only be an hour or so and I don't particularly want my throat hurting for any of it so if you're going to play anything could you go out of range."

Nate shrugged, sliding his legs off the bed and standing up. "I'll see you in a bit then." His hand brushed hers very slightly and she smiled. It was like a kiss, wasn't it? A kiss in public... when you didn't want anyone else to know. His fingers were warm.

There were a few moment of awkward silence after Nate and Ele had left. It was the kind of moment when no one's quite sure what to say because it was just dawning on both of them that they hadn't really talked in a while. Mitchie tapped her fingers against her leg for a moment then looked up. "I just wandered –" she began, at the same time as Caitlyn said:

"I was thinking –"

"You first," they both said in tandem. There was a half second of silence and then they were laughing together like they hadn't in far too long. Mitchie leant forwards and hugged Caitlyn close.

"I missed having you as my best friend," she admitted.

"I missed having a best friend." Caitlyn pulled her close for a moment then let go, pulling back and smiling ruefully. "I hate being angry with everyone. Well, being angry with you anyway." She shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I mean, I never talked to Shane last year and I haven't really met Jason or Ele. Tess and Ella were always your friends and Lola went home early."

Mitchie felt a pang of guilt when she heard this. She knew Caitlyn was right, the dark-haired girl had always been slightly solitary but Mitchie hadn't really considered the fact that most of her friends weren't really her friends. "I'm sorry," she said again, meaning it more this time and Caitlyn smiled.

"I know you are." She opened the book, flicking through the pages she hadn't seen before. "I'm seeing a lot of love songs." Her eyes flicked up, smiling. "I'm glad you're happy with Shane."

Mitchie smiled and, finally, felt as though they were friends enough to bring up the topic that had been confusing her. "You and Nate," she opened, speaking slowly in case this was a forbidden topic. "Are you... together?"

To her surprise, Caitlyn laughed at this as though it was the strangest question in the world.

"Well?" she asked, smiling but not sure why. "Come on, Caitlyn. We haven't talked in ages and I need all the gossip. Is there still a single guy in Connect 3?"

Caitlyn shook her head, still laughing. "We're not together." She took a breath and composed herself. "Sorry, it's just strange trying to apply concepts like 'going out' to Nate. We're friends."

"Dare I ask why?" Mitchie bit her lip slightly, trying to stay polite.

Caitlyn laughed again, just once. "You mean, why am I friends with an obnoxious, arrogant, self-obsessed jerk like Nate Grey?"

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

Caitlyn shrugged. "After the... you know... with the music hut there wasn't really anyone else. I started taking his classes and then when he quit Connect 3... I was nearby so I went after him." She shrugged again, slightly self-consciously. "He's not that bad when you get to know him. You start to see why Shane and Jason put up with him so much. He can be really funny when he wants to be." She reached out to grab the pen, coughing uncomfortably and changing the subject, probably hoping Mitchie wouldn't notice the slight blush starting on her cheeks.

Mitchie just bit her lip to avoid mentioning it and smiled. Nate and Caitlyn might be 'friends' but it was pretty clear Caitlyn didn't only think about him in that way. "Okay," she agreed, standing up and heading to Caitlyn's keyboard. "Let's get started."

"How much did you tell her?" Caitlyn asked. It was an hour and a half after him and Ele had left the two girls to it and now Caitlyn was walking him back across camp, allegedly to make up for kicking him out earlier.

"Everything Mitchie knows," he replied casually. "You don't know the full extent. Guitars, singing, balloons, etcetera. I didn't mention anything about the who me being the catalyst but I think we'll have to tell people sometime. It makes me feel special." He slid an arm around her shoulders, smiling. "I was thinking of adopting it as a middle name. Nate _Catalyst_ Grey. It's a cool word."

Caitlyn laughed. "If you must." She rested her head on his shoulder. "You can claim to be able to make poor, innocent little girl's throats hurt at any time of the day or night."

Nate laughed this time, as Caitlyn did her best pout. "Of course." He looked up as they passed the music huts. "How did practice go with Mickey?"

Caitlyn shot him a glare which turned into a smile then a laugh as he did his innocent face. "You have to be nice to her," she protested, hitting him lightly on the arm. "She still can't understand why I'm friends with you."

"Well, I can't understand why anyone would want to go out with Shane so it evens out." He glanced at Caitlyn and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, I'll play nice. How did rehearsals with _Mitchie_ go?"

"Very well, thank you. We're doing a song called _Best Friend_ and it's going to be fully helium powered." She smiled. "I won't be hiding anymore. I think that's a good thing."

Nate smiled, pulling her close into a hug. "I think that's a very good thing." They had reached the door to his hut now but there was no conversation about Caitlyn coming in, she just followed him. "When are we next working the kitchen?" he asked casually, flicking on the lights.

"'We,'"" she echoed, sounding slightly pleased. "Are we a team now then? Nate and Caitlyn, chefs extraordinaire."

Nate laughed. "Naitlyn," he offered. "Anyway, I don't think anyone in their right mind could class me as a chef, let alone a chef extraordinaire."

Caitlyn grinned. "A distraction?" she offered. "A stand up comedian? Entertainment." She turned away, wondering around his hut. "So this is where the upper class lives." She wondered across, her eyes taking in the bare walls and the suitcase that lay open on the floor, clothes scattered around it. "You know, most people unpack when they're on camp. They put up posters and ornaments. They don't live out of a suitcase with a travel alarm clock on their bedside table." She was already moving to his pile of clothes and picking things up as though she was incapable of not folding.

"What's the point putting something away if you're only going to use it again the next day?" he asked idly, kicking a few pairs of underwear under the bed.

"Cleanliness?" Caitlyn offered. "People who come into your cabin won't think you're a complete slob."

"Ah, but isn't that like pretending to be something you're not which is a great Sin. I believe you performed in a song to that effect last year. This is real, This is me, I don't care if my room's not clean –"

Caitlyn stuck her tongue out at him and dropped the folded shirt on the bed. "Have you washed anything since you arrived?"

"Jason came in a stole a pile of stuff at some point." He shrugged. "People would pay a lot of money for some of this stuff, you know."

"Not if they smelt it." Caitlyn lifted a second T-shirt at arm's length and wrinkled her nose before throwing it towards the door. "Or maybe I'm wrong, I'm sure some of these articles would go for a high price if you advertised them as the new form of biological warfare." She picked up a third top, sniffing it experimentally from a distance.

Nate smiled slightly then crossed the room, taking the shirt from her hands. "You don't have to tidy my room, you know." He told her quietly. "I mean, usually I wouldn't even let people in here. You're... well... you're the first I've actually given permission to enter. My brothers have been in, but they don't count. Ele came in too... but that was just to watch me get woken by water on the head. Mitchie might have been in here at some point... come to think of it, I might've been wrong about this cabin being my personal space." He broke off, reaching out slowly to touch Caitlyn's cheek with one finger, almost asking permission. "Let's try again. No one's been in here who's opinion matters to me." He reached out slowly to rest his other hand on her waist. They'd been closer than this in the past but still it felt like strange territory. "Until you."

Caitlyn felt the blush spreading across her cheeks. Nate's fingers were cool against her skin, still retaining the chill from the air outside. "Mitchie asked what was up between us," she replied, trying to pull herself out of the pool of no return that was Nate Grey's eyes. "I said we were friends."

Nate smiled. "Good friends?"

And that was how easy it was. That was why she liked Nate, that was the reason that she couldn't put into words to tell Mitchie. Nate didn't... expect anything from her. He didn't need her to tell him she wanted a relationship so he would kiss her. He didn't need to say out loud what they were both thinking because, well, they were both thinking it.

She smiled, leaning her head in the gap between his shoulder and his neck and feeling his arms wrap around her. "Yeah," she agreed happily, breathing in his smell and feeling strangely comforted. "Good friends."

She tilted her head back and her lips met his. His mouth was cold, soft and still tasted very slightly of tomato sauce.

Nate was smiling when they moved apart for a moment. "You're the reason my guitar has no speakers amps or cables I need to find you, I gotta find you."

Caitlyn laughed, pulling close to him again and closing her eyes as she leant her head against his chest. "You found me."

His fingers twisted in her hair and his lips touched her forehead. In that moment she felt more at peace than she could ever remember feeling. It was just her and Nate. Two friends... two good friends... and maybe, just maybe, something more.

His breath was warm against her ear, his lips brushing her skin very slightly and his voice betraying his smile. "I found you."


	15. Chapter 15

_Yeah... bin a while... sorry._

_Hope you haven't all forgotten about me (:_

_Please R&R - still taking suggestions for next fic (Including character preferences, time preferences...)_

_-Ekkah_

Fifteen

***Nate***

"Uncle Brown?" Nate pushed open the door to the man's hut without bothering to knock. Caitlyn and Andy had both agreed to meet him after lunch which meant that at some point _before_ lunch he had to book the recording studio for them to work in. As Caitlyn and Mitchie had realised last night Final Jam was getting worryingly close and Nate, as a judge and prize, wouldn't be allowed to play live for the dancers.

"We Pop," Uncle Brown was singing in a low voice, tapping a pen against a pad of paper covered in crossings out as he ran a hand through his hair. "We pop, we pop on." He drove the pen onto the page, scribble something out. "That's just stupid," he muttered, apparently to himself. "You can't 'pop' on."

Nate knocked on the doorframe. "We sing," he sang quietly. "We dance, we play on. The beat it goes on."

Brown's eyes looked up, apparently noticing him for the first time. "Nate? When did you come in?"

"A few minutes ago." He crossed the room, pulling out the chair in front of brown's desk and sitting in it, reaching out to steal the pad Brown had been working on. "This would be the Camp Pop theme tune, then."

Brown scowled, dropping his pen onto the wooden surface. "I have running a Pop camp. It doesn't fit in anything. What's wrong with having our own unique brand of rock music?"

Nate grinned at him. "It wasn't rock music?" he offered, scanning the page in front of him. "You know, Connect 3 _invented_ the Final Jam Jam Session." He smiled reminiscently. "We got grounded for a month for doing it and now it's a tradition."

"You must be so proud."

He smiled again, looking back at the sheet and scanning through it. The lyrics were similar to the song they'd played the year before but noticeably different in places. "Heart's racing fast, you know you're playing." He raised his eyebrows. "It's not exactly _catchy._"

Brown snatched the pad back. "Stupid lawsuit." He grabbed his pen, scribbling out the line Nate had been laughing at. "Well? Did you have a reason to be here? I've got to sort out the line up for final jam, write this song, I'm sorry but I haven't got _time_ to be a loving uncle at the moment. You got your paranoia thing cleaned up, right?"

Nate shrugged. "Maybe," he offered. "I mean... I think I'm still paranoid." Thinking about it now, the idea of playing electric in front of a huge audience... he shuddered. Who really knew with cables these days? Except he had Caitlyn and there was magic helium in the world. He smiled slightly. "But I'm working on it. I was thinking of using a different system next time I play live."

"Well," Brown didn't appear to be paying attention, he was scrawling words down the side of his page. "If you ever need someone to talk to, Shane has too much time on his hands. What rhymes with funk?"

"Punk, drunk, can I use the recording studio after lunch?"

Brown mouthed the question slowly. "No," he muttered. "No, doesn't fit." There was a moment of silence then he seemed to realise what Nate had said. "Oh, sure thing. Whatever you want. Tell Shane he needs to teach everyone the final piece. Anyone from last year can help." He ran a hand through his hair. "I should probably sleep more."

Nate stood up, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Coffee helps," he advised. "And if you ignore hygiene, the ten minutes from the shower help a surprising amount." He paused then an idea stuck him and he reached out for the pad. "Tell you what, I'll sort the lyrics to this song and I'll get Shane to do the dancing and Jason to run the music. I'll sort it all."

Brown looked up in surprise. "Really?" he asked, sounding shocked.

Nate grinned at him, the idea steadily growing in his mind. "Sure. It can be an apology for my conduct earlier in the camp." He took a pen from the desk to write with. "But you have to come to my concert." It was the first thing he could think of, a good trade to disguise his request.

"Concert?"

Now he had to think quickly. "Yeah, I'm doing a concert to get back into my solo tour. I was planning to call my agent over lunchtime." It could be cool.

"I thought you decided you didn't like solo? You didn't like the backing band."

Nate shrugged. "I'll get a new band then. People I do like. Anyway, I like playing with my brothers _and_ playing solo. It's the best of both worlds." He smiled brightly. "So, recording studio after lunch and I'll get the song ready for final jam. See you at the concert."

Tucking the pad under his arm, he left the hut with a bright smile on his face and pulled out his mobile, scrolling through the contacts list one-handed until he found his agent's number.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you could sort something out for me..."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn ran a few steps to catch up with him walking into the mess hall. "Okay," she said slowly. "Why are you smiling? How many people did you make cry this time?"

Nate grinned at her, pulling a pad of paper from under his arm. It looked as though it was covered in the tracks of a drink spider. She took it, sniffing it experimentally.

"Well done, you took a shower. I'm shocked."

Nate laughed, hitting her lightly. "It's for Final Jam. In fact, it is _the_ Final Jam Jam Session song."

"You should call it Random Scrawls." She tilted the book in case it would improve the handwriting or at least reveal a few lines which _weren't_ crossed out. "Wait, why do _you_ have the Jam song? Isn't that Brown's job?"

She looked up in time to see Nate's face break into a wicked grin. "What?" she asked, feeling the same confusion that had come last year when Mitchie had cracked Brown's stupid punishment. "What?"

He smile turned into a picture of innocence. "I volunteered to sort it for him. You know, write it, sort the music. It should sound just like last year's but with different lyrics to fit with the camp's name change." He took the pad back off her, tearing off the top sheet and dropping it into the bin just outside the canteen.

She realised in that moment. "You're going to sabotage it, aren't you?" Technically, she supposed she should think of this as a _bad _idea but Brown hadn't exactly been on her side this summer.

Nate grinned at her. "Think of it as revenge." He held the door of the canteen open for her.

This was where she suddenly felt sorry for Mitchie. She'd complained to her friend about how she always went to sit with Shane but now she knew the one thing she _really_ wanted to do was ignore last night's promise and sit with Nate. Still, it would be the worst form of hypocrisy to break the promise and as she stepped inside she could see Mitchie sitting on her own at a table, a tray in front of her. She looked up and smiled when Caitlyn entered.

"Nate," Caitlyn opened slowly. "I kind of promised I'd sit with Mitchie today. I'm still okay for the studio afterwards but I promised." He looked disappointed so she found herself adding. "You can join us if you like."

Nate shook his head. "No offense, but I'm not that keen on the company." He stepped back from her, tucking the pad back under his arm as she glanced around and saw Tess, Ella and Lola were already sitting down with Mitchie.

"They're nice," she offered helplessly.

Nate just shook his head, stepping away from her and heading back to the main door. She turned after him, unable to quell the feeling of intense guilt despite the amount she told herself it had been a _promise _and she couldn't help it. Nate wasn't her only friend anymore.

"You need to eat something," she called after him helplessly.

"I'll eat in the kitchen." The doors swung open and he stepped through them leaving Caitlyn to walk to the hatch on her own and sigh as she passed her plate to Mitchie's mum.

"What's up?" Mrs Torres asked, picking up a few ham rolls for Caitlyn's plate.

Caitlyn shrugged. "Apparently I can't be friends with Nate as well as all my other friends." She took a few small tomatoes from the bowl, passing them from hand to hand uncomfortably. "I mean, I know he doesn't like fangirls but my friends aren't really fangirls. Well... Tess likes him and Ella likes him –" she broke off. "It just feels like everyone's pulling me in different directions. I can be friends with Mitchie and Ele and Nate but I can't be friends with their friends and enemies with their enemies because they don't _mesh._"

Mrs Torres reached out to touch the back of her hand lightly and smile. "Nate's a good person, Caitlyn, and without you I don't think any of us would have realised that. You've just got to give him time to get used to how his life's going now. People don't get over their fears quickly, not even people like Nate." She pushed a cupcake through the hatch after her. "I'll talk to him next time I see him. For now, you go have fun with your friends."

***Nate***

Nate sighed, unable to look up into Mrs Torres' eyes. "I'm trying," he muttered. "I just... don't know where to start. I don't want people gawking or going 'omg that's Nate Grey therefore he has no privacy and we can just do whatever we like to him because he signed up for this.' I _didn't_ sign up for this. I wanted to play music and make people happy, not have girls lusting after me or willing to do anything for my name on a piece of paper."

She smiled ruefully, finishing her own mouthful before replying. "I'm not going to say I know what it's like because I don't. You're talented and likable which makes it inevitable that people are going to like you. You're a good looking, young pop start and girls just go with the territory. It's one of those things you just have to get over like the fact that being a chef means I always smell faintly of onions or garlic. If I woke up one day scared of cucumbers I wouldn't stop working, I can't stop working because it would mean I'd have to stop feeding my family. I would just have to say to myself: well, the cucumbers can't get to me unless I let them and go out there and face it."

Nate found himself smiling a little at the analogy. "Cucumbers tend to be less violent than fangirls."

"Not when Caitlyn's wielding them." The light joke was enough to break the tension and Nate found himself reaching for his second sandwich and taking a few bites.

"I don't know where to start," he said eventually, the last mouthful of his sandwich still held in his hand as he bit his lip, looking up at Mitchie's mom. "I mean, do I just go out into a crowd of them? I don't think I could get through that."

Mrs Torres smiled slightly, standing up to pick up plate of cupcakes and put them down in front of him. "Start with Caitlyn's friends. Go out there and sit with your friend and her friends. It's not a big deal."

"Not for you." Nate pulled the plate closer to him. "Are these all for me?"

She laughed. "They're to take out to the girls. Only Caitlyn got one earlier so get moving. Go!"

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn shook her head sharply. "No," she replied firmly. "No, no and no."

"Are you _sure?_" asked Tess suspiciously as she examined a tomato for traces of fat before popping it into her mouth.

"I am _not_ going out with Nate Grey." It felt like the thousandth time she'd made this claim but Tess and Ella weren't getting any less insistent.

"You looked pretty close when you came in," Ella said. "I mean, he hasn't even said one _word_ to me all camp but he was speaking in sentences to you."

"And you were sitting with him the other day," Tess reminded her.

"And," Lola added, looking at something over Caitlyn's shoulder. "If there's nothing between the two of you, why's he coming over here right now?"

Caitlyn, Ella and Tess all spun around. Caitlyn cursed under her breath when she realised a moment later that this just made it completely obvious there was _something_ going on. Still, she wasn't complaining as Nate's face broke into a small, slightly nervous smile when he met her eyes.

He was good looking... like, _really_ good looking but that didn't mean they had to be more than friends. Somewhere in her mind she knew this logic was flawed. They _weren't_ just friends but what did it matter? So she lov-iked him. Big deal. Friends. Good friends, close friends.

Nate glanced around at the others then glanced back at the kitchen as though he wasn't sure he was in the right place. Caitlyn pushed her chair out quickly, standing up to walk over to him and take the plate from his hand. "What brings you to this side of the swing-door?"

His face was close to hers and she could see every fleck in his brown eyes as he replied, so softly she could almost have imagined it. "You, just yo-"

"Hi." Tess knocked Mitchie aside so she could hold out a ring adorned hand and smile brightly. "I'm Tess Tyler. My mom's TJ Tyler. We didn't get off to a very good start but I'm willing to overlook that if you are. I _know_ we can make a friendship work right no-"

Tess was knocked sideways into Caitlyn as Ella shoved her way in front of Nate. "I'm Ella. Ella Perez. My dad's a composer and I'm best friends with Peggy Dupree, I think you know her."

For a moment Nate looked ready to bolt, his eyes flicking wildly. Caitlyn stepped aside from Tess and back into his line of sight, offering him a small smile and wishing she could do more. _What could I do? We're friends. That's what we agreed so I can't... I don't want these guys to know how much he means to me._

"Margaret," he said eventually, the sound barely audible over the sounds of the mess hall.

Tess pushed back, false smile plastered back across her face. "Sorry? Didn't quite catch that."

Nate let out a low, humourless laugh, turning his head to look at Tess with an expression similar to his old obnoxiousness. Caitlyn knew this was bad but she couldn't help thinking of everything she'd suffered at Tess' hands and thinking _go for it!_ "I said Margaret." His voice wasn't quiet anymore. It was steady with a light hint of irony. "Interesting, isn't it, that you were all such good _friends_ but you didn't know her name." He brushed past them both to sit down at the table. "Hi, I'm Nate."

Caitlyn was smiling slightly as she slid into the seat a few down from him. See? She was showing restraint. She wasn't sitting next to him or kissing him right at this moment.

Lola smiled at him, clearly trying to be friendly. Of course, Nate was too young for her. "I'm Lola," she introduced herself. "I must say, we haven't seen a lot of you during the camp. You keep yourself to yourself?"

"I've been doing a lot of writing." Nate reached for the plate of cupcakes that Caitlyn had put on the table but she pulled them out of his reach. He ate too much sugar. "My solo tour wasn't working, needed a whole revamp."

"Oh," Mitchie leant forwards. "Is that why you pulled out? So you could redo the whole thing."

Caitlyn glanced at her in surprise, Mitchie knew all too well why Nate had pulled out. It hadn't really been a secret around the High Table, they'd all clubbed together to try and think of solutions after all. Then Mitchie glanced her way and gave a small wink. It was enough for Caitlyn to turn to Nate and see his, slightly relieved, smile.

"Yeah," he lied easily. "I hate doing anything which is below what I know I can achieve so I pulled out to get the whole thing up to scratch. The band wasn't working out either. Anyway, Margaret deserved the solo time."

"She was _amazing,_" Tess pulled out the seat next to Nate, sitting down half on it and half in his lap. "I always said so, didn't I Ella?"

"Well –" Ella started, sitting down on Nate's other side.

"See?" Tess reached out to snatch the plate from Caitlyn and hold it out to Nate. "Would you like a cake?"

Nate smiled at her. He actually _smiled_ at her. Stupid cake-wielding serpent. She was going to make him fat. She didn't even like him, she liked Shane and he was the only pop star left. He took a blue one from right beside her finger. She'd probably touched it the stupid Nate-stealing – "Thanks. You have one too."

Tess, who never touched sugar outside of a lettuce leaf, took another blue one from the plate, smiling her stupid smile all the time. "So you're going back into solo performing?" she asked, feigning an interest for the first time ever in something that wasn't her. "Are you still in Connect 3? Because no one was sure about that."

Nate laughed slightly, looking all the more attractive with the small smile on his face. "Yeah, I'm still in the band. I mean, it wouldn't be a band without me."

Caitlyn laughed at the joke but Tess seemed to take the brash comment at face value. "_Naturally._ So have you ever met my mom? Do you like my bracelet? Every time she wins a grammy, she adds a charm."

Nate glanced at her wrist, even taking her hand in his to get a clear view of it.. "Hmm. I'd have thought there would be more than that." He tilted his head around to smile at her and she let out a tinkle of false laughter. "But it's nice," he finished.

Caitlyn felt sick. Was this Nate being nice? Was that all that had ever been between them? Nate making jokes and touching her hair and, yeah, even kissing her just because that was what he was like when he was being nice. She kicked her chair back with more force than was necessary, standing up and forcing a smile. "I'm gonna go."

Nate glanced around, as though he cared. "Why?"

"I need to set some stuff up for this afternoon." She grabbed her bag from beside her chair, swinging it over her shoulder. "Have fun and I'll see you all around."

In the corner of her eye as she turned she saw Nate start to get up then get pulled back down by Tess. He didn't resist. Mitchie stood up too.

Caitlyn fled, walking as fast as she could without breaking into a run until she reached the girls toilets where she could lock herself in a stall and let the mascara around her eyes run down her cheeks. Of course she'd heard him wrong. He hadn't come out for her, he'd come out because he wanted to meet his fans and find a girlfriend and make jokes with people who weren't her.

_Just friends._

Her shoulders shook and she dropped her face into her hands.

_Just friends._


	16. Chapter 16

_I just discovered I've only written up to chapter 18... this means I'm actually going to have to write some more of this soon. Ulp. (:_

_Another update! Woo! And hopefully it's got a slightly less cruel ending (:_

_Does anyone know a good website to make polls so I can put up a poll for my next CR project? Final Jam is coming up fast (: Keep any suggestions coming in for any of the characters._

_So... yeah... on to the chapter _

Sixteen

***Mitchie***

"Caitlyn," Mitchie tapped on the door again. She wanted the door to open. She needed to see Caitlyn, to reassure her that she was here and that it didn't matter. "Caitlyn, talk to me please."

There was a moments silence then a ragged gasping of breath. "There's nothing –" A few hitches of breath from a girl trying desperately to hold her composure. "Nothing to say." The last word came out a sob and Mitchie felt her heart breaking.

"Caitlyn, please. Is this about Nate?"

"No. Just give me a minute, I'll be out in a minute. No, go to the recording studio. Tell Nate I had to... I dunno... shower or tell him the music called. Just tell him some excuse."

"Caitlyn, what's wrong? Do you like Nate? Is that what this is about?" She couldn't fight the feeling that there was something between the two of them. Caitlyn was determined that they were just friends but she definitely felt more than that. _Maybe that's it. Maybe Nate just doesn't feel the same way._

There was no reply from the cubicle. Mitchie knocked on the door a few more times but was rewarded only by a repeat of 'Tell Nate.' This was clearly something important so eventually she stepped away. "Okay, Caitlyn, I'm going to tell Nate."

"Not the truth."

Mitchie bit her lip, wishing she could... she wasn't sure... hug her friend or somehow make everything better. Failing that, however, going to find the source of her misery seemed a good idea. Maybe if she beat Nate to enough of a pulp he'd get the message. "No," she agreed. "Not the truth." She stepped out of the toilets and headed across camp to the recording studio, ignoring all the people who called her name on the way. When she reached the door she bashed on it heavily until it opened, revealing Andy looking very confused.

"_Mitchie?_ What are you doing here?"

Mitchie ducked down in attempt to peer under his arm into the studio beyond. "Is Nate here? He was supposed to be here."

Andy moved his arm so she could get inside and glance around, taking in the empty booth and empty mixing desk. "No," he replied simply. "He went to find Caitlyn. She was supposed to be here but she never turned up."

_Uh-oh._ Mitchie turned on him. "Where did he go?"

"Why do you need him?"

"Where did he _go?_"

Andy paled slightly and she realised she was probably being a little over-aggressive. Save that for Nate. "I... um... think he went to the music huts. Probably. Maybe. I don't know."

Mitchie resisted the urge to punch something. "Okay." She backed out of the studio, glancing from side to side across the path. The path to the huts was pretty winding.

She set off at a run through the woods.

***Nate***

Nate glanced both ways before stepping into the small room. He didn't bother knocking, just sat on the floor leaning against the edge of the door frame. "I'm not allowed in here," he remarked, apparently to no one. There was a slight hitch in the breathing from the closed door on his right, followed by the sounds of someone trying not to sound like they were crying. "I know it's you," he informed the door quietly. "I just saw Mitchie leave."

"Go away."

He leant back, reassured very slightly by the sound of Caitlyn's voice proving his hunch had been right and he hadn't just been talking to some girl he didn't know. "Can't."

"Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

"Well, I'm _supposed_ to be recording a song but the best third of my band didn't show up so I figured I'd do the right thing and I'd go find my best friend so I could find out what was wrong with her." He glanced around but the door didn't seem as though it was going to open any time soon. "Do you want a cake?"

There was a coughing, slightly hysterical laugh from the cubicle followed by another small outbreak of sobbing. "Do you," Caitlyn managed eventually. "Do you ever think of anything but sugar?"

Nate swallowed slightly. "Sometimes," he offered, unable to get his voice to sound anything but quiet and timid. "I think of you."

"As a friend."

There it was. The instant checking that everything was As It Should Be. Nate and Caitlyn were friends because he was famous and she wasn't. Because they didn't like Disney moments and they weren't like Mitchie and Shane or Jason and Ele. They were friends. Just friends. Nate sighed slightly, trying to keep it subtle. "Yeah, as a friend." _A pretty, funny, beautiful, talented, one-in-a-million friend._

There was a silence, then the scraping sound of metal against metal and Nate was able to stand up in one movement and push open the cubicle door.

Caitlyn's eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks stained black from eye make-up. Nate didn't even take the time to think before he took the step forwards and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her damp cheek against her neck. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, thinking in that moment that he would do whatever it took to make whatever was making Caitlyn look like this go away. "Tell me."

"It's..." she leant closer to him. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"It doesn't matter."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn pressed her face closer into Nate's neck, breathing in his slightly sugary smell. He'd come for her, hadn't he? He wasn't off with Tess right now, he wasn't holding her and telling her he was beautiful. Maybe... maybe friends was better. Friends didn't come with heartbreak and difficulties and questions that couldn't be answered. It didn't matter, then. It didn't matter about what had happened or what would happen because right here right now he was holding her and she could wrap her arms around him and never move away.

"Are you going to tell me?"

She held him tighter, feeling her tears stopping. "No." She managed a faint smile at the thought of what he might say if he knew.

"How can I help if I don't know?"

She kissed his neck lightly. He tasted like trees and faintly of salt, probably from her tears. "You're doing fine. Promise." She leant against his shoulder, ignoring his attempts to start speaking, juts enjoying being this close to him until she felt strong enough to move away, reaching up with an arm to rub her eyes with her sleeve.

Nate held out a tissue and she took it from his hand, her fingers brushing lightly against his in the process. "Thanks."

"No problem." He glanced at his watch. "Are you still up to record? I think we could make it, if we run."

Caitlyn swallowed, wiping the last of the dampness of her face. "I guess I could," she agreed, giving him a small smile. This was the song they'd written together, a part of him which she could claim as hers. "I mean, it's got to be done sometime."

"That's the spirit." He wrapped his arms around her one last time. "I'll meet you there when you're ready. Just gotta go make sure Andy doesn't rush off anywhere." He pulled back, setting off out of the hut at a light jog.

Caitlyn gulped down the lump that formed in her throat when she watched him run away and turned to the sink, turning the tap on to splash cool water across her face.

"Caitlyn?"

She turned in surprise, dripping water on the floor as she took in Mitchie standing in the doorway, her hair slight dishevelled and looking very out of breath. "Mitchie? What happened to you?"

Mitchie stepped into the room, leaning heavily against the wall. "Have you seen Nate? I couldn't find him anywhere."

_What would she think? If she knew what had happened... she would jump to conclusions, everyone would. I can't... I can't listen to people trying to put us together right now. We're not together we're friends we're just friends. _"No," he replied quickly to cut off her thoughts. "I'm supposed to meet him at the recording studio. Have you looked there?" She pulled a paper towel out of the holder to dry off her eyes, wiping off the last of the eye make-up she'd painstakingly applied that morning to impress someone who didn't care.

"Yeah." Mitchie let out a long sigh, leaning against a wall. "Are you alright now?"

Caitlyn shrugged, pulling out a second towel to dry her hands. "I'm coping," she replied simply. "Getting by, you know." She looked up in the mirror for the first time. Her eyes were simpler now they weren't ringed in black and she almost preferred it that way. The redness had gone down and she couldn't exactly say now that she wanted Nate to see her and her best seeing as he'd already seen her worst.

"Are you going to tell me what it was about?"

She shook her head, leaning back into the cubicle to pick up her bag and swing it over her shoulder. "Sorry," she added. "I just... don't really want to talk about it. I thought through a few things in there and, well, I'm better now. I need to meet Nate and get this recording sorted."

She felt a pang of guilt when Mitchie touched her shoulder reassuringly. "You know I'm here," her friend assured her.

"I know. See you after tea for practice? Just the two of us?"

"You're not eating with us again? It was fun."

_Depends on how you look at it. _"I'm on kitchen duty tonight, remember?"

"Oh, did you want some help? We haven't helped out together for ages, have we? I mean, if you wanted someone to do it with, someone to talk to."

Caitlyn felt her face turn slightly red and she looked down, unable to completely meet Mitchie's eyes. "I'm... um... already doing it with someone. Nate... he helps out."

"Oh. Yeah, I saw him the other day." There were several moment of awkwardness. "Well, see you back in the hut after tea then. Will you be done by about eight thirty? I have to clean up the practice huts." She trailed off, as though hoping Caitlyn might volunteer to help.

"Yeah. See you then." Caitlyn stepped past her to get out of the bathroom, checking her reflection once more in the window of the door on her way out.

***Mitchie***

Mitchie followed Caitlyn out but the dark haired girl was already running in the direction of the studio so Mitchie leant against the doorframe instead, reaching into her pocket for her mobile. She had, without thinking, dialled Shane's number before she remembered he was doing a Final Jam pep-talk class and would have it switched off. She hung up quickly, taking her phone away from her ear and staring at it for a few moments before calling Ele instead.

"Hi," she said quickly, the moment it was answered. "It's Mitchie."

There was a moment of laughing in the distance across the line then it seemed to be pressed to an ear. "Hi, it's Ele." Another laugh. "Who's calling?"

Mitchie sighed. "It's Mitchie," she repeated. "Are you with Jason?" Not that it was obvious or anything.

"Yeah we're... we just got something."

Mitchie stepped away from the hut, stepping onto the path through camp. "Where are you?"

"Woodwork. It's not really lesson times but no one else uses it and we needed to check out our... thing."

Mitchie switched direction, heading for that part of camp. "Can I come join you? Everyone else seems to have other plans?"

"Oh." For the first time Ele sounded less excited and more uncomfortable. "I... dunno. I'm not sure. I mean, there's this thing that we're... and it's kind of a secret."

_Everything is these days._ Mitchie tried to avoid a sigh. "Okay. Well, tell Jason I said hi. I'll sit with you guys at tea again if you like." Sitting with the others was only fun if Caitlyn was there. Even with Caitlyn there it hadn't been that much fun. Tess had been monopolising the conversation by trying to work out if Nate was still single or not and Caitlyn hadn't been talkative.

"I'm not sure when we'll get there. You and Shane have fun though." Another laugh. Good to know some people were enjoying themselves.

"Shane's got a meeting with Brown."

"Well... I'm sure you'll think of something." Mitchie was really getting tired of the laughs punctuating Ele's speech. Yeah, it was good that the girl was happy but couldn't she be happy more subtly for those who weren't?

"Yeah. Well, have fun with your 'thing.' See you around." She hung up.

***Nate***

"You can't pop on," Nate was saying when the door opened. "But what can you do that's similar... pop..."

"Balloons?"

He glanced up to see the door open and Caitlyn standing in the doorway, smiling at the two of them where they were cannibalising the lyrics to _We Rock._ She was pretty impressive. Looking at her now he could barely match this girl up with the one who, only a few minutes earlier, he had comforted while she cried for a reason which he still didn't know. "Hey." He stood up to go over to her but she shook her head very slightly, coming through into the booth where they were and dropping her bag on the table.

"Hi Andy."

"Hi Caitlyn. Where were you? Did Nate find you?"

She clearly didn't have a cover story. Nate was, therefore, forced to come up with one on the fly. "She was doing the washing up," he told Andy, trying to sound sceptical. "She saw that Mitchie wasn't doing it so she went back into the kitchen because she thought Mr and Mrs Torres wouldn't be able to run a catering company without her help."

Caitlyn stuck her tongue out at him. "Just because I _occasionally_ think of people who aren't me, Nate Grey." She stepped between them, tilting her head at him very slightly to give a small smile of thanks as she slid a laptop from her bag. "Nate, did you bring a guitar?"

_Oops._ Andy looked up at him, throwing drumsticks from one hand to the other and looking very prepared. "Um..." he turned, glancing around the hut until his eyes fell on an old black guitar. "Yes." He crossed the room, picking it up and shortening the strap so he could hand the instrument over his shoulder. "It just needs tuning."

"Right." She sounded sceptical but went with in. "Andy, if you get into the booth and set yourself up we can get the drum beat laid down."

The moment he closed the door to the soundproofed room, Nate turned to Caitlyn. "Are you alright?" he asked, keeping his voice low out of habit more than any real necessity. "You don't want to talk about it?"

"I got through it," she replied dismissively. "Thanks for coming to find me but its sorted now. You're a good... friend."

_Good friend. _"You're not still upset about whatever it was then? I don't want you to be unhappy."

"No?"

_What..._ He tilted his head. "What?"

She glanced around at him, the hint of a blush touching her cheeks. "I said no," she replied casually. "I don't want to be unhappy either. It works out quite well really." She smiled, but it didn't look that much like her heart was in it.

"Was it about –" he glanced into the studio where Andy was engrossed in individually positioning each drum in the overly extravagant drum kit into exactly the right location. He lowered his voice anyway. " - the helium?"

Caitlyn shook her head straight away then seemed to realise what she was doing and stopped. "No," she replied, speaking slowly as though she'd just thought of something. "It wasn't but... I mean... Ele took it quite well, didn't she? Maybe I should try telling people."

Nate felt a moment of irrational dislike for this plan. Just because he liked being one of the special few who were close enough to Caitlyn to know her secret didn't mean she couldn't tell it. Maybe it would help, especially if the moment this afternoon had been helium-related. "When would you do it?"

"Tonight maybe. At dinner. What do you think?"

Nate reached out, resting his hand on top of hers out of sight of the window to the recording booth. "I think you should do whatever you think is right."

There was a moment of nothing then, slowly, she shook her head. "No. I don't think... It's not time yet."

***Caitlyn***

Andy sat beside her as Nate went into the booth for the third time. He'd already shown off enough, recording lead guitar then backing guitar then bass with barely a break between and now he was getting ready to record the vocals which, somehow, he'd remembered from the day when they made them up.

"He's talented," Andy remarked from behind her. "Isn't he?"

Caitlyn reached out to turn the mike on. "Are you ready to go?"

"Ready and waiting."

She flicked the mike off and started the music in his ears, sliding the headphones onto one ear so she could turn back to Andy. "You could say that."

"He's like a one man band. What are his brothers for? Company?"

Caitlyn smiled at him, distracted very slightly by Nate's voice coming through into her ear. "Maybe they're there to stop him doing anything stupid. Though I can't guarantee they do a brilliant job all the time." She turned back to the window in time to meet Nate's eyes and hear his voice coming through on the chorus.

"_Cause it's my world, they're my secrets_

_I can hold them as long as I want to."_

For some reason, even though it had been written a while ago now, the song seemed to sum up her current situation. Her secrets. Nate, helium... how long could she really hold them? Did she want to keep them if they were going to result in repeats of that morning? But if she told Nate... not that there was anything to tell Nate. That wasn't something she'd admitted to _herself_ let alone to... him.

"_It's my life, stories untold_

_Not to him, her or you,_

_Not now_

_Ever, ever after maybe_

_You'll know all about me_

_Just not now."_

Caitlyn turned away, unable to stand up to his gaze. _Ever after,_ she thought silently. _Sounds like a fairytale. A Happily ever After ending with no secrets..._

Was that what she wanted? No, she didn't want to be the star in some under-budgeted Disney movie with a few minor celebrities. She wanted to just be herself, living her life.

Then, perhaps, friendship was best. And maybe, as a friend, she could warn Nate away from Tess. He would listen to her, surely, if they were such good friends. Maybe he hadn't even liked Tess that much in the first place.

"_You assume I know what I'm doing, here._

_And you all assume that I care,_

_I just want to tell you that I have no answers._

_When you give me no time to prepare."_

No answers... Caitlyn tapped her fingers against the casing of her laptop. Did Nate have no idea what he was doing? He always seemed so confident and sure in himself. Not like the rest of them, just muddling along and hoping things worked out.

"_Maybe this is all I am,_

_Just a face and a famous name."_

_No... not to me..._

"_Maybe if you close your eyes_

_I'll break your heart again."_

Caitlyn bit her lip then turned back to the window. If that was what it took then she wouldn't close her eyes, she wouldn't look away. She could do this.

***Nate***

Nate was watching the window and he met Caitlyn's eyes finally for the last chorus. "_Cause it's my world, they're my secrets._

_And I'll hold them as long as I can bear to_

_It's my life, stories untold_

_Not to him, her or you." _But he'd told one of his secrets, hadn't he? And it had turned out fine, great even. He was still in Connect 3, he was going back into solo work and he knew that there was magic in the world. Magic that could erase his fears.

"_Not now." _

Not yet, he wasn't _ready_ yet but soon, maybe. If he could work out what he wanted to say.

"_Ever after, maybe_

_You'll know all about me,"_

What had Caitlyn said? 'it's not time yet.' But time was coming, they just had to wait and see where it went.

"_Just not now."_

* * *

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

_Let's do this!!!_

_I hope Aquiturd fans like this chapter (: _

_Conflicts are resolving themselves around me and hastily scrawled song ideas are turning into songs... I can only assume this means the end is in sight. There will be an epilogue, as well as a chapter that is nothing more than a list (:_

_Do you want a poll for my next project in the next chapter or should I wait until the actual Camp Rock 2 comes out?_

_Please R&R. Reviews make me (: adding to alerts or faves without reviewing makes me :(_

_(: makes me write._

_I'll stop spamming this bit now and let you get on with the story._

* * *

Seventeen

***Jason***

Jason reached out slowly to pick it up, turning it over in his hands to fully take in the blue-tinted glass, the dark green-tinted wheels which spun fluidly without a sound. Inside there were a few fake plants.

Ele reached out to take it from his hands, running her fingers across the strings. "I am in heaven," she said slowly, reverently. "You know that feeling like all your dreams have come true." She looked up, smiling brightly at him and as he looked at her Jason knew the answer was yes. Shane had got his happily Ever After and now Jason was the happiest boy in the world.

"I know that feeling."

She glanced up, her cheeks turning pink as she realised where he was looking and smiled that cute, slightly awkward smile. "I was talking about the guitar."

Jason smiled. "You asked about all my dreams." He reached out to take the Aquiturd wheel from her hands, running his plectrum across the strings then reaching for the tuning pegs to fix the sound. He glanced up at her. "This particular dream wouldn't have gone anywhere without you, you know that."

Ele shook her head. "It was all you really. I mean, you had the contacts and the money and the original idea –"

"Actually," Jason interrupted. "That was Nate."

"Whatever, it wouldn't have got anywhere without you. I mean, who else in the _world_ would come up with the idea of putting an aquarium and a birdhouse _into_ a guitar."

"You suggested the aquarium in our first session, didn't you?" Jason thought back. It was strange, the start of camp seemed so long ago now. So much had happened since they'd arrived and Nate had been sulking and not talking to anyone properly.

Well... he was still sulking... but he was a bit less obnoxious about it and he was clearly talking to Caitlyn who seemed like a nice girl so somewhere along the line something must have worked.

Outside of Nate it had been a good summer, in fact it had been mind blowingly awesome because everyone here was so talented and he'd met Ele who was like his soulmate and he'd been able to talk to Mitchie who was totally his brother's soulmate. He'd spent more time with Shane than he had in a while which had been good and they'd done a lot of music together or with the girls.

"It was so long ago," Ele said, echoing his thoughts. "We've done so much since then and in under a week it'll all be over, won't it?"

Jason put down the Aquiturd wheel carefully before leaning forwards and hugging Ele firmly. "Camp will be over," he replied thoughtfully. "But we won't be. I mean, the time's changed up and we'll go on being who we've become. Plus, you've got to come visit us in California." He sighed. "It would be cool if there was some way we didn't have to split up. If you and Mitchie and Caitlyn could travel with us."

Ele smiled ruefully, hugging him back which was something Shane and Nate never really did. It was nice though. "It would be cool," she replied. "But it wouldn't really work. I mean, we can't just sit in your tour bus all the time and we can't all be members of Connect 3. Connect 6 just hasn't got _quite_ the same ring to it."

There was a knock at the door and the two of them pulled away from each other quickly. Jason glanced at Ele and wondered if his face was as red as hers was. Probably. He stood up, heading for the door. "Who is it?"

"The tooth fairy," replied a voice dripping with so much sarcasm it had to be Nate. "Can I come in?"

Jason glanced around to Ele who had grabbed the Aquiturd Wheel and was frantically looking for somewhere to hide it. He turned back to the door. "Um... why?"

"I need to talk to your girlfriend about something. It's urgent, people's lives may depend on it!"

Jason pulled the door open quickly, glancing around in time to see Ele push the Aquiturd Wheel onto a shelf randomly and turn to face Nate and smile.

***Nate***

Nate raised his eyebrows, kicking the door shut behind him and folding his arms. "Okay, what's up?"

Jason managed a particularly amusing false expression of innocent obliviousness. Usually that was an expression he was good at but then usually it was true. "Nothing. Why would something be up?"

"Your girlfriend's smiling at me. She _never_ smiles at me."

Ele's smile dropped quickly and her eyes travelled around the hut in a bad attempt at casual. "I'm happy, so what?"

Nate shrugged. It didn't really matter what Ele and Jason were hiding. Caitlyn was waiting for him outside so he wanted to get this over with fast. "Whatever, I'm here to talk to Ele."

"And it's a matter of life and death?" Ele took half a step forward. "What's happened?"

_Life and death... oh yeah..._ "Nothing, I just said that so Jason would open the door. He stopped listening to 'I'm being chased by a werewolf' when I was ten." He bit his lip, trying to work out how best to phrase the next question and almost wishing he'd accepted Caitlyn's offer to come with him. "So... Ele..."

"That's my name, congratulations. Did you have a point?"

Nate glared at her. "I'm getting to it. Basically: Jason mentioned something once about you playing bass guitar. Is that true?"

"Yes unless you want something."

"I want two things, to be perfectly honest, and they both revolve around you playing bass."

"I prefer rhythm or lead."

Nate shrugged. "There isn't a choice here. I know people who play rhythm and lead but you're the only person I know who plays bass. Are you in?"

"Not until I know what I'm in for. Why do you need a bass player? Is there some song that you can't be bothered to pay someone to play for a recording of?"

_Why did I come to her?_ Nate pushed down the question. He'd come because he didn't know a lot of people and he thought Ele might appreciate it if she stopped talking long enough for him to offer. "I play bass," he replied slowly. "If we were recording, I would do it."

"If you play bass why are you in here asking me to do it for you?"

Nate narrowly resisted bashing his head against something. "If you shut up for _five minutes_ I might be able to tell you." He took a deep breath. "Firstly: I'm organising the final jam jam session which, technically, isn't a jam because it's organised and everyone gets the music beforehand. I need a bass guitarist to play the music for everyone to sing along to. Are you in?"

Ele looked surprised, and faintly pleased to be asked. "Really?" she smiled. It was still strange. "You want _me_ to play bass in final jam? For everyone else?"

"Yes."

"Why me?"

"Because you can play bass. I'll write the piece up tonight and give it to you tomorrow. Learn it. The second thing I want you for is longer, more complicated and will take up a great deal of your time for the next year and possibly beyond." He bit his lip very slightly. _Get over yourself, Nate. You want to play solo... this is what it takes. _

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking," he managed, stiffly. "About offering you a job. As a bass player. It would involve learning a lot of songs and then touring for a while."

"Touring with who?"

Nate shot her a withering glare. "With _me_, fool. I'm going back into my solo tour and I need a decent backing band. Andy's already agreed to play drums."

"You want me to tour with you?"

"Want is a strong word." He took another long breath then looked up. He shouldn't be so stressed about this. Caitlyn was waiting outside, he was going back into music and it would all be awesome this time. "Okay, forget I said that." He offered her a slightly hesitant smile. "Basically, I don't know a lot of people which isn't much of a compliment I know but I'm working on it. I know you, I trust you... to a point and, well, I think I could probably live with you on tour."

For a moment nothing happened. Then Ele catapulted towards him and hugged him making a sound like a dying mouse.

"Is that a yes?" Nate asked, when he gained room to breath.

Ele nodded enthusiastically. "Touring with you, Shane and Jason? Of course it's a yes!"

"It's my solo tour, Ele. I'd be the only one playing."

"Yeah, but Shane and Jason would be travelling with us, wouldn't they?"

Nate glanced at Jason who was grinning like an idiot. "Yeah," he replied, smiling genuinely now. "Yeah, Shane and Jason would hang around with us. As long as they weren't doing events elsewhere. I don't know how pay or anything would work out but Jason's agent is the same as my agent so he can arrange for you to get in touch with her and argue or do whatever usually happens when people arrange salaries." He smiled uncertainly. "And you're now the second person I've ever hired. I'm kind of hoping it'll get less weird over time."

***Jason***

Jason grabbed her, pulling her into a hug as soon as the door had shut behind Nate. "It's perfect!" he enthused, even going so far as to pick her up and spin her around. "And Nate's soloing again which means he's being all musicy even if he's not talking to us. Well, he talked to me... which was good. He just needs to have a heart to heart with Shane now because Shane wants to talk to him." He put Ele down and saw her smiling back.

"Well," she said self-consciously. "It's just the one tour. And it's not like a band, I mean, he clearly doesn't need me for recording or writing songs. You and Shane will probably be off loads anyway doing popstar things." She looked up at him. "But it's good. I mean, I have a job... I'm going to be paid for doing what I love and it's a good start in life if Margaret's career is anything to go by. Maybe if I win final jam I'll get a chance to open for him. I can't wait to tell my mum!" She pulled her phone out of her pocket, turning away from him to dial a number.

Jason crossed to the shelf and picked up the Aquiturd Wheel again, turning it over in his hands. Hiding it would probably have been a waste of time, now they considered it later. After all, ate hadn't even looked around the hut.

The trouble with it was, the more he looked at it the more he saw that the instrument had been designed to be hung on a wall rather than played. The tuning pins barely turned and the strings made slightly off sounds. He put it down again as Ele's voice started echoing around the hut.

"Guess what. No... no... well, kinda, but that's not what I called to tell you. His name's Jason and he's very nic- I don't think you're allowed to ask that and anyway the answer's no. That's not what I wanted to tell you anyway. I got offered a job! No, a touring job. Playing bass guitar. I know I don't like bass but this could be a real career starter. No, it's not with some dull old support band. Can you stop talking so I can tell you? It's Nate Grey. _Nate Grey_ from Connect 3 wants _me_ to play bass on his solo tour!"

Jason tuned her out, sitting on the floor and reaching for the box that the instrument had arrived in, pushing aside little polystyrene worms until his fingers touched on a slim piece of card. He closed his hand over it, pulling it out and turning it over to read the text written on it.

_Jason,_

_Robbie made this in his workshop the other week for you. He didn't want paying but I assumed (knowing you) that you would want to give him something so I transferred a small amount to him in thanks. I also thought we could get his sister's children backstage passes to your next gig and autographed pictures as he spends a lot of time with them and would enjoy making them happy._

_Business aside, I hope you and your new friend enjoy the... aquiturd wheel? Is that what it's called? I'm doing my best to keep the press out of your relationship but you might want to prepare Ele a little for being in the public eye if you plan to continue to spend time together after camp._

_Robbie has asked me to inform you that this is a concept piece of design rather than a working instrument. The wiring isn't in place and if you try to set it up like a real electric guitar the wildlife inside could find themselves on the receiving end of an early death so DON'T try it. It's been made more as an animal home than an instrument so you should be fine to keep a few fish in it and set it up for the birds (I suggest you don't leave a hamster in the wheel for long periods of time. I can't imagine that being much fun.)_

_Robbie also wanted me to tell you not to get your hopes up for a guitar like this to ever work fully. He said it would take something like _magic.

_I look forward to seeing you again when camp is over. There's a sealed envelope in the box as well (if you haven't seen it) and could you please pass that on to Nate? Tell him it relates to what we discussed._

_Good luck to you and Ele._

_Celia_

Jason sighed slightly. Of course, he'd been getting his hopes up for the Aquiturd wheel being possible but still... actually seeing it, _holding it_ just made it seem more possible than ever. He passed the note to Ele when she returned to sit beside him, still almost glowing with happiness.

"My mum said it's okay." She leant in, looping an arm around his neck and kissing his cheek. "This is going to be _awesome._" She turned to the note and Jason pulled out of her arm to ferret in the box for the envelope Celia had spoken of. It just looked like a normal, sealed envelope, slightly fat as though there were several sheets of paper inside. He turned back to Ele who was looking up at him, the grin still firmly on her face.

"What?" he asked slowly. "The Aquiturd Wheel doesn't work... it's not going to work."

Ele's grin, if anything, got wider. "Oh yeah?" she showed the note to him again, pointing at a single line. "It would take 'something like magic.'"

"That's the bit that means it won't work."

She shook her head. "No. That's the bit that means it will." She stood up, grabbing his arm. "Come on!"

***Caitlyn***

"Did you do it?" Caitlyn asked eagerly when he ran out of the hut towards her. He didn't even answer before he flung his arms around her, spinning around and lifting her slightly into the air. "Put me down!"

Nate put her down, a grin etched across his face. "I did it. On my own and everything. I employed someone." His smile turned more cheeky. "This means Ele has to do whatever I say."

It was good, seeing him happy. "And you're getting your life back on track," she reminded him. "Growing up." He wrapped one arm around her.

"Thanks to you."

"Not really." Caitlyn shrugged him off, looking embarrassed. "I mean, I only ever encouraged you to do what you knew you wanted to. You'd get by fine without me."

Nate shook his head and, for a moment, her heart leapt. He didn't think that was true? He didn't think he could get by without her? Did that mean... "No," he replied, turning to face her. "No, I wouldn't. I would be lonely and depressed and I wouldn't know what to say to anyone." He bit his lip. _Is he going to ask me... would he? We're just friends... are we?_ "Caitlyn... um... I'm not too good at this yet so I'm just going to come out and say it. I don't want to go off on my solo tour without you and it's not just because of the helium. I want... I don't know. I understand you in a way I don't really understand anyone else. I want to employ you, I guess, just so you have to stay with me."

His eyes were big and brown and they looked so sincere but they also looked... scared. _He's here,_ she thought suddenly. _He's here and he's talking to me, not anyone else. Honesty is important. _"Nate," she said quietly. "What did you think of my friends?"

He looked slightly surprised then glanced around as though he'd just been put in an awkward position. "I... I mean, they all seemed like... nice people."

"Tell me the truth, I don't mind." In reality though she was tensed up inside. If Nate told her he fancied one of them... if it was someone else and not her, if it had never been her...

"Lola was nice," he offered after several agonising moments thought. "And Mitchie's okay, despite having the bad taste to go out with Shane. The others... I mean I know they're your friends but they were still so _fangirly_ even after everything with Shane and I don't think I could put up with them for long. Tess... well... I didn't like her the first time I met her because she was an arrogant name-dropper and I don't think that's changed much." He shrugged. "Plus, she was completely on top of me the whole time." He looked into her eyes. "I know you like them."

Caitlyn just smiled, flinging her arms around him to hug him tight. She'd been an idiot then. She'd seen what she didn't want to see and she hadn't even stopped to think that these people were nothing _like_ Nate. "I like you more."

His arms moved back around her. "I'll just assume _you_ know what _you're_ doing." He said, in his cute slightly baffled voice. "Because just between us, I have no idea what happened."

"Good happened." She took a step back, her hands running down his arms until she took his hands in hers. "And you can employ me if you want but I'll go with you even if you don't pay me. You won't be able to get rid of me."

"I won't want to."

"Friends?"

Nate pulled her into another hug. "The best."


	18. Chapter 18

_Okay, the poll won't happen until next chapter because what I thought would be one chapter turned into 2 so... yeah..._

_At the current stage of planning there will be 20 chapters and an epilogue (nearly over!) I have 4 options for the poll but am on the look out for more if anyone has any suggestions (:_

_So, 2 chapters to go and the wait is almost over (:_

_-Ekkah_

Eighteen

***Nate***

Three days until final jam. More importantly – from Nate's perspective at least – it was less than two weeks until he was back on stage in his comeback concert, the first of his new solo tour _Coming Home_. The tracklist had been written (though some of the lyrics were still unfinished), the music had been thrust at the band (otherwise known as Ele, Andy and Mitchie) and Nate was starting to have nightmares of the stylist his agent had brought to camp running after him and shouting such things as 'I was thinking Smart-casual' or, in a high nasally voice, 'What do you think of pink shirts? They're in at the moment, _way_ in.'

Still, first things first. In between franctic tour planning he'd managed to gather most of the musicians of Camp Rock to practice the final jam song of which there were two versions. The first version had been given to Brown and approved. The second version... hadn't.

"_We sing, we dance we rock on. We pop, we pop on."_

"_Popcorn? What about popcorn?"_

_Nate looked up from his guitar, cursing the heat that had led him to leave the practice room door open. How was he supposed to think of some witty amusing alternative to 'pop on' with constant distractions? "Not _popcorn," _he snapped scathingly. "Pop _on._ As in, rock on but worse."_

"_Oh," she looked a little scared and took a few steps back, apparently planning to leave. "I thought you said popcorn. Sorry." She turned to flee just as the realisation of what she'd really said hit Nate._

_Pop on... popcorn. He felt a smile burst across his face. "Thank you! I love you!"_

_She turned and ran._

So he hadn't been all that tactful at that point. He was _getting_ better. He hadn't made anyone cry in... well he wasn't sure if the girl talking about popcorn had been crying... but at least a few days He hadn't even done anything bad until... at least a few minutes ago when he'd stolen Caitlyn from her cabin because she spent _all_ her time practising with Mitchie these days and surely Shane's GF could live without _his_ best friend for an afternoon. She would've been happy about it.

Nate was so certain Mitchie would be fine with it, in fact, that him and Caitlyn had run into the woods until they didn't think anyone would find them even if they _were_ looking. No one had found him after he quit Connect 3, after all.

Caitlyn leant her head against his shoulder and he reached around to run his finger through her hair... in a friends way...

"We should get back soon," she muttered sleepily. Her hand was resting next to his free one so he linked his fingers with hers.

"Says who?"

She laughed, shifting slightly to get comfortable. "Mitchie isn't going to like this. She thinks we need all the practise we can get."

"And what about me?" He dropped his voice as the bird swooped into view, landing on the lip of the guiturd in the tree opposite. "I need all the time with you that I can get. I might never see you again."

Caitlyn laughed. "I'm _touring_ with you," she reminded him, though the fact that she snuggled closer suggested she wasn't planning to run back to Mitchie just yet. "Not quite 'never again.' Anyway, you lured me here with the promise of a song."

"I did?" Nate couldn't quite remember exactly what he'd said when he snuck into Mitchie's cabin. From what he could remember he'd just agreed to whatever.

"_You_ said you'd play me 'Coming Home.' You know, the _headline_ song on your tour that you're refusing to show anyone."

He could do that. After all, Caitlyn didn't _really_ count as 'anyone.' "I'm not really playing any of the new songs from my tour," he reminded her. "But I suppose, if I _promised._" He made to move and realised he was blocked in. "If you want to hear it, Cait, you're going to have to move."

Caitlyn let out a low moan, but spoiled it by smiling.

Nate pushed her gently sideways. "Come on, Geller. I promised, remember." He managed to extract himself, releasing her hand – albeit reluctantly – to grab his guitar from against the tree. "Okay, you're not allowed to laugh or anything. I mean, in the concert there'll be a band and – with any luck – a couple of screaming fans. The atmosphere's important for this kind of –"

Caitlyn nodded, pointing at her throat. "I'll see what I can do," her voice was slightly strained.

Nate let his guitar fall into place then looked at her and smiled briefly. "Just take it easy on the volume, okay?"

***Caitlyn***

_How did I cope before this?_ Caitlyn pulled her legs close, wrapping her arms around them. _Before I had someone like Nate... how did I ever hate him?_ She couldn't imagine a time now when she wouldn't look at him and think of his arms around her, his smile.

"You ready?" he asked, said smile flashing at her.

_If by 'ready' you mean is your throat completely killing you... _"I'm ready, Nate, just get going."

"_I saw a lot of places,_

_Ran for miles through the trees_

_I watched a lot of races_

_For a prize no one could see._

_I climbed lot of mountains_

_And I dreamed a lot of dreams_

_I ran away, took my life in my hands, I roamed_

_But now I'm coming home_

_The trees are turning greener in the orchards where I grew_

_The apple tree where I first fell is growing, see it bloom_

_The House that I was raised in, all the family I knew_

_You thought that I was gone but now_

_I'm coming home to you_

_I walked a lot of pathways_

_Met those living out their lives_

_I tried to see it all ways_

_But couldn't find the time_

_There's one thing that they all say:_

_Without love you can't survive._

_I ran away, took my life in my hands, I roamed_

_But now I'm coming home_

_The leaves are turning golden, in the orchards where I grew_

_The apple tree where I first fell is turning golden too_

_The House that I was raised in, all the family I knew_

_You thought that I was gone but now_

_I'm coming home to you."_

He dropped into a guitar solo, plucking the strings slowly and Caitlyn took a deep breath. It felt like she hadn't moved since he started. She'd expected something... she wasn't sure. Something upbeat like the rest of Connect 3's songs but what Nate was playing was... it was beautiful. Simple and slow and beautiful.

"Do you like it?" he asked uncertainly, over the simply chord plucking. Caitlyn could almost _hear_ the violin movement in the background and next thing she knew she _could _hear them.

"I love it."

"_I thought if I could see the world_

_I'd find a place to lay my head_

_I thought if I could go alone_

_I'd find _it_ but I found instead_

_That life is always turning_

_But however far you roam_

_The only thing you need to do_

_Is come back home."_

He held the last words and the violins peaked and then there was a crash of symbols and Caitlyn could barely feel the pain in her throat now because there were drums and violins and three guitars and a bass line and more importantly there was Nate singing out his soul.

"_The snow is falling on the branches, in the orchards where I grew_

_The apple tree where I first fell now shimmers white and blue_

_The House that I was raised in, all the family I knew_

_You thought that I was gone but now_

_I'm coming home to you._

_I ran away." _

Caitlyn felt all her input fading out and it was just Nate's voice and the soft, plucked chord progression.

"_I took my life in my hands."_

A shiver ran down her spine and she couldn't help wondering what would happen when he played this song on his solo tour. It was amazing.

"_I roamed."_

His eyes fell on her and he smiled, a proper smile as he played a final chord.

"_But now I'm coming home."_

***Nate***

He didn't even get a chance to ask if she'd liked it before she was standing in front of him, pushing his guitar aside and flinging her arms around him.

"It comes after _Disconnected_," he explained, somewhat awkwardly. "The one where I..."

"Quit," Caitlyn provided, moving away to smile at him. "Then came back. So you're playing it? The same as before?"

Nate smiled very slightly. "I added some bass," he replied, wondering if she would recognise her own advice. "And a keyboard solo. I don't suppose… in the tour… you'd mind, you know…" had talking always been this hard? He was sure he would've remembered if it had been. "… playing it. On your keyboard. Because, you know, you do that."

Caitlyn took a few steps back, her arms dropping and she smiled though her cheeks were turning faintly pink. Maybe he shouldn't have hugged her so much. "I'd love to."

"I can pay you and stuff," he reassured her, quickly. Maybe she just didn't want to go… maybe she felt inferior because he was paying Mitchie, Ele and Andy.

"You don't have to pay me, Nate. I said I'd love to do it and I meant it. I'll play keyboard in anything you want."

He was filled by a sudden pang of regret that he hadn't put more keyboard into the tour songs. He wanted to hug her again but she was still looking down, her hands folded in her lap, and it would've been awkward. Maybe that was why she was doing it.

"But I want you to do something for me," she finished quickly, looking up at him for the first time and attempting a smile. "If you wouldn't mind."

Nate fought down the urge to say he'd do anything for her. "What?"

She was blushing _again._ What had he done wrong this time? Why didn't Shane find talking to girls this difficult? "I want to tell everyone. About, you know…"

Wait… did she think? Were they together? Did they have some kind of relationship that Caitlyn now wanted out in the open?

A large part of him cheered at this idea, almost drowning out the small voice of panic. "About you and me?"

She looked confused for half a moment, then nodded. "Yes. You, me and the helium. I want to share the magic, you know?"

The small voice of panic breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of him let out a longer sigh of disappointment.

"I was hoping you could get everyone's attention for me. They'd listen to you and you just have to say that I have something to tell them and it'll all work out."

_Hopefully,_ Nate couldn't help thinking, but he didn't voice it out loud. "Of course I will." He resisted the urge to hold her hands. That would probably be too far if she was still blushing about a hug. He folded his arms across his chest.

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn breathed a small sigh of relief. She wished she could give Nate a hug but he'd gone and folded his arms. Apparently hugs were off the menu at the moment.

She felt her blush grow slightly as she remembered the embarassing moment earlier when her heart had leapt at the idea that there was a 'you and me' and they had a relationship. Of course, then she'd realised what Nate _had _meant. Luckily before she'd made a comment, that could've been even more embarassing than having to ask him for help. She'd never liked having to ask for help.

It occurred to her now that she'd been standing looking at Nate for a worryingly long time considering they were Just Friends and she turned her head away quickly, reaching down to grab her laptop bag. "I should get back to Mitchie," she said quickly. "Final jam, you know."

She could see the dissapointment on Nate's face but the moment was already awkward enough. She gave him a quick hug which somehow ended up being all elbows. "So we'll do it at dinner? Most people usually get there around six-thirty, is that okay?"

"Not like I have anything else to do."

She blushed again, and turned away quickly. He didn't have anything else to do. That was why he was helping her. They were friends and he wasn't busy. "Okay. See you then." She walked away before he could reply, breaking into a jog when she was out of sight and running to her cabin where she pushed the door closed, leaning against it and breathing heavily.

"Where've you been?" Mitchie looked up. "You're bright red, Cait. How long have you been running? Oh my god, did Nate finally ask you out? Did you run away? Please say you said yes, you _blatently _like him."

Caitlyn managed to find the energy to shake her head helplessly. "I don't," she managed, still breathing heavily. "And he doesn't."

"He _doesn't_?"

She shook her head again. "Just friends. Anyway, I don't like him. I mean, I like him as a friend but I don't love him not that that ever came up." She swallowed down the rest of the babble, taking a few deep breaths and pulling herself up to her full height. "We're just friends," she finished.

"Well in that case," Mitchie threw a songbook at her. "You have no excuse for missing practice. Come on."

***Nate***

Nate spent an hour making small talk while Jason and Ele shot shifty looks between each other and a random instruments cupboard before Ele finally left the hut to go to some other lesson. He then made another half-hour's worth of small talk with his eldest brother before he plucked up the courage to ask the question he had come here for. "Jason," he opened awkwardly, swinging his legs on top of the cabinet that he wasn't supposed to sit on because apparently it might break.

Jason looked up from hammering two planks of wood together in a vague approximation of a right angle. "Mmm?" Anything more word-like would have required him to spit out the three nails he was holding in his mouth.

"How do you… tellifagirl likes you?"

Jason tilted his head quizzicly. "Hm?"

Nate swallowed carefully. "How do you tell if a girl likes you? As in, romantically. How do you ask them out?"

He could have gone to Shane but Shane went through girlfriends like a hurricane and everyone knew the story of Shane and Mitchie. Nate had no desire to go the Disney route. Jason was with Ele, though, which suggested he knew at least _something_ about the way girls worked.

He hadn't anticipated Jason's knowing smile and it made him distinctly uncomfortable as his eldest brother spat the nails out into his palm and put them down, walking over to sit on the cabinet beside him. It creaked alarmingly. "Caitlyn?" he asked, sounding surprisingly knowledgable.

How did Jason always know everything? He knew about Mitchie last year as well, Nate hadn't known anything about that.

"Not necessarily," he fielded, apparently now unable to admit that he liked her. "Just any girl. I mean, definitely not Caitlyn."

"Well if we were talking about Caitlyn I would say you open your eyes because it's the most obvious thing in the world." He shrugged philosophically. "But as we're not, I suppose it depends on how they act around you. Usually it's easy enough to tell."

Nate thought back to Caitlyn's awkward and all too brief hug before she left. Yeah, it was easy to tell she thoughtof him as a friend. "How did you ask Ele out?" he asked, looking at the poster across the hut so he wouldn't have to meet Jason's eyes. "How did you know you liked her?" That was a stupid question. Anyone could've seen from the beginning that the two crazy people were made for each other.

Jason shrugged. "I just knew. We agreed on everything, we had the same kind of ideas, we liked the same things. She's clever and beautiful."

_We that clears things up. I don't agree with Caitlyn all the time, she likes computers and I can't make them work. She plays keyboard, I play guitar._ The news that he didn't lov-ike Caitlyn didn't make him feel any better though. "How did you ask her? Why did you ask her?"

"Well everyone was refering to her as my girlfriend and after our first few woodwork sessions I just started assuming that she was then, like, a week later Mitchie told me that I hadn't actually asked yet so next time we were alone together I asked if she would be my girlfriend."

"And she said yes?"

Jason smiled. "She exploded, in a happy way not an actual explosion way, and hugged me and said yes about a million times. Then we designed the awesomest scenery for the fish in the aquiturd wheel and it was great."

_It's really that simple?_ Nate found himself thinking in amazement. _Not that I have anyone to ask. Caitlyn doesn't like me, I don't like her. Not like that._ He shook himself to clear the thoughts. "I need you in the canteen tonight at six-thirty. Bring Ele if you want to, I just need you to be there."

"Are we still on the subject of girls?"

"No and you can forget that conversation ever happened now."

"You should ask Shane. He's asked out more girls than me."

"He's also been slapped and dumped a lot more times than you," Nate reminded him. "For being a jerk. Because 'no one understood him' before Mitchie even though, as it turned out, Mitchie didn't understand him either. So will you be there?"

Jason looked confused for a moment then nodded. "In the canteen, yes. You always do that, Nate. Change topic in the middle of a sentence so no one can ever keep up with you."

"Do not."

"Do so."

Nate pushed Jason lightly and Jason pushed him back but they were both smiling. Then Jason felt the need to pull Nate into a one-armed hug. "I love you, Nate. You know that, don't you?"

Nate pulled out of the hug awkwardly. He was bad at things like this, telling people he loved them. That was why it wouldn't work out between him and Caitlyn. Not that he liked her and she didn't like him so it wouldn't work anyway. "Now who's changing the subject?"

"Are you still in a mood with Shane? Is that why you came to me?"

Actually, Nate had come to Jason because he kind of missed having crazy conversations and arguments and whatever with his brother but he wasn't going to admit to that. "I don't think I am." It was hard to keep track of all these grudges, seemed simpler just to forget about them now.

"So why am I coming to the canteen later?"

Nate just smiled. "You'll see."

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

_As promised the poll is up on my profile! Please vote even if you're just reading the story on the sly without reviewing. If anyone wants a bit more for each of the options I've put a short quote from each below to help you make up your minds. Of course, you may just want to skip them and get straight to the chapter seeing as we're so close to the end you can almost taste it now._

_CRIII: Left Behind:_

Her mum reached out to touch her lightly on the shoulder, it was probably supposed to be reassuring but it wasn't. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay, honey? I'm sure Brown would let me help out in the kitchen if I was to -"

"I'm fine," she snapped. She was a pop star now: she should be able to spend one summer away from her parents.

"Just think how much fun you'll have."

She managed to force a smile for her mothers sake, turning back to the window to look out at a Shane-less camp. That had to be a good thing.

_CR0: Connecting 3_

"Nate! Welcome home, welcome home."

Nate stepped directly out of the cab and into his mother's enthusiastic embrace. It was as strange to be back home as it was to hear them calling him Nate. Back at St Andrews it had always been just 'Grey' or 'Nathan Grey' if he was misbehaving, an event with seemed to happen with a strange amount of regularity however much he tried to follow the boarding school's stupid guidelines. He leant his head against his mother's shoulder, breathing in her familiar scent as he readjusted. He was _home._ After the delayed plane and three hours at the airport he was finally back in his own house, a place he intended to stay right up until the very last minute.

_The Perfect Marriage:_

Nate, however, was still three months behind in the: 'hang on, getting _married?'_ stage. He hadn't even _proposed_ when Mitchie had started her organisational nightmare.

Come to think of it... there was a high likelihood that he _still _hadn't proposed. They all seemed to assume that because Jason and Shane had done it, he must have done it too.

He was getting married in two days. He didn't have a ring, a vow or a suit and, technically speaking, he still didn't have a fiancé.

_I haven't got any quotes for the xmen one... that was just to see if any of you would be interested in it_ _because I would probably write it alongside one of these three._

_I'll let you read the chapter now. (:_

_-Ekkah_

* * *

Chapter 19

***Caitlyn***

Everyone was looking at her. Nate had returned to his seat beside Jason but even meeting his eyes didn't restore her courage completely. Tess, Ella and Lola were on the edges of their seats; Tess' coldness and Ella's enthusiasm suggesting that they were both expecting Caitlyn to announce her engagement to Nate any minute now.

_Come on, Caitlyn. You can do this._ She looked back at Nate who gave her a small thumbs up and mouthed something that was probably meant to be encouraging. Then he smiled at her and, from somewhere, she found her voice.

"Hello camp pop!" She managed to pull in an air punch and a false smile but winced when she heard the faint reverberation of her voice and realised her helium had gone microphone on her. Maybe she should've told Nate to go miles away so he couldn't catalyse anything.

Everyone was looking at her strangely. What was she supposed to _do_?

"My name's Caitlyn Geller," she opened. "Camper today, top selling music producer tomorrow." Unfortunately, what had sounded like a good introduction when she went to her first camp years ago now seemed like it was complete bragging. She coughed uncomfortably and heard it echo around the hall. "But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I want to tell you about something that happened to me. Something magical and musical."

_Deep breath, get on with it. Get the worst out of the way._ "I can breath magic helium."

The looks on their faces were enough to show that this hadn't been even close to what they were expecting. A few were looking at her as though they thought she was crazy.

Then Ella laughed, the slightly strained look in her eyes the only evidence that she wanted Caitlyn to o along with her. To pretend this was all just a joke.

But it wasn't and Caitlyn kept her face straight as the few people who had joined in with the laugh faded out into silence.

"I can breath magic helium," she repeated. "You might have noticed strange things happening over the last few days. People have amplified electric guitars without wires or sung solo to you when you could hear a harmony. Everyone's been assuming that it was some system of Brown's but it wasn't." The energy in her throat died. Who would have thought you could be so scared magic helium would go away? "It first happened to be last year a couple of times but this year I've had it a lot more. I call it magic because I don't know what else to say. I only know it's helium because whenever I blow into balloons they float. Well, whenever if it's active. It's not always active so it doesn't always work but usually." She sped up for the last minute because the faces in front and below her (she was standing on a table. It had been Nate's idea) were growing more sceptical by the second. A few more people were laughing now.

"I think –" she tried again, but the words came out a high pitched squeak. More people were laughing. If she looked carefully she could pick out the faces of Tess's table or Nate's dance class who weren't laughing but were looking at her as though begging her to pull herself back from this.

No one was looking at her with trust in their gaze. None of her supposed friends could put in the effort to believe her.

When she looked at the top table she couldn't bring herself to meet Nate's gaze. Mitchie was biting her lip and looking apologetic while Shane smiled disbelievingly beside her. Ele was smiling but it was weak.

"I just wanted –" her voice squeaked again but she pushed it down. "I just wanted you to know!" she had to shout over the laughter but it died slightly. No one expected her to keep going. "I wanted you to know because I thought if you knew I would be able to help you out. I wanted you to know because I thought I owed it to the people of this camp who have befriended me and trusted me. I thought I owed it to everyone who's relied on it to know what they're putting their trust in because it doesn't always work."

"Will it work now?" someone shouted, their tone jeering.

She felt her face turning bright red. She was meant to be a music _producer._ She was meant to lurk in the shadows and work on albums not stand up in front of people and prove what she could do. "I don't know if it'll work now. I mean, no one's playing guitar or singing so –"

"I have a guitar!" someone else yelled. This was turning into a joke now, everyone was treating it like a huge joke at her expense as an electric guitar was crowdsurfed towards her.

She picked it up because she didn't know what else to do, turning it over and over between her fingers. Everyone was talking around her, waiting for her to make a fool of herself. All she could do was stare at the instrument. "I don't…" she managed to murmer, her voice too low for anyone to hear. "I don't play the guitar." She felt useless. Worse than useless.

"Go on balloon-girl!" shouted someone, who had apparently only paid attention to one part of her speech. "Show us what you got!"

Caitlyn kept her eyes fixed on the guitar. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to cry. It was strange that with all the people laughing at her the thing that was tipping her over the edge was her inability to play the guitar. All the mockery and jeering seemed to be on the other side of a pane of glass, she was distant from it.

The guitar was in her fingers and it seemed to sum up all her failures. She was useless. She couldn't play, she couldn't prove herself.

***Mitchie***

Mitchie could see faint red marks appearing around the edges of where her fingers gripped Shane's arm but she couldn't bring herself to let go. "Caitlyn," she managed to whisper, feeling her heart going out to the small girl standing on the table.

Shane looked around at her and for a moment she hated him for the disbelief on his face. How could he treat her friend that way?

Except… it was unbelievable, wasn't it. She hadn't believed it when Caitlyn had told her. Nate hadn't believed it when he heard. Ele probably hadn't believed Nate at first, though she had the benefit of knowing Mitchie and Nate both believed in it.

Shane's disbelief dropped slightly when he saw her face. "You believe her?" he asked, sounding surprised more than anything else.

Mitchie nodded. "I knew," she explained. "From the beginning of the summer, I knew." She released her grip on Shane's arm very slightly. "She didn't want me to tell anyone. Even Brown doesn't know. We've all been relying on her so much." She felt tears forming in her eyes at the injustice as the camp raged around her. "We've all been relying on her and it hurts her to do it but she can't help it. She's been helping us so much and this is what… this is our thank you."

***Jason***

Jason didn't even bother to ask. He didn't look at Ele's face or Mitchie's face, he just turned straight to Nate. "What's she doing?"

His brother was watching Caitlyn, his eyes filled with sorrow as he took in her turning the guitar over in her fingers as the jeers started to fade. The silence would be worse, the silence would be a sign that her chance was over.

"She can't play the guitar." Nate's voice was low but his hands were white where they gripped the table. "She doesn't know how."

Jason looked back at the stage where Caitlyn was slipping the guitar strap over her head. "What's she going to do then?"

Nate shook his head helplessly. "I don't know."

***Shane***

Shane caught the last part of Jason and Nate's conversation. "Jason," he said, soflty but firmly. "And Nate."

Jason turned to him but Nate kept his eyes fixed on Caitlyn. Still, their grudge couldn't matter now.

"We don't know what she's going to do," Shane continued, speaking slightly louder than usual for Nate's benefit. "But we can sure as hell decide what _we're _going to do."

Jason looked surprised at the idea of acting. "What do you mean?"

Shane was already kicking his chair back. "I mean that's Mitchie's friend up on that platform and she's alone and she's scared and I don't know how the rest of you are just sitting there."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn ran her fingers up and down the strings, without making a sound. Slowly, she found the only chord she knew and struck it.

There was a slight, twanging sound from the strings. It was slightly off key: her fingers were shaking uncontrolably. The crowd was falling quieter now, less jeers and nore laughs as they waited for her to do something. They were just expecting a piece played on an electric guitar that wasn't plugged in.

She couldn't even play a piece.

_Help me,_ her lower lip was quivering and she couldn#t let herself cry in front of all these people. She couldn't let herself cry. _Someone help me._

Then, suddenly, someone was there. Someone with arms that wrapped around her and she could lean her head into a wonderfully familiar neck and breath in the wonderful scent of Mitchie's mum's lasagna and trees and hair and _Nate._

He took the guitar from her hands and it looked more natural in his fingers. But it didn't matter if he played because her thrat felt normal. Horribly, terribly _normal._

"I can't," she whispered, pulling him close again. "I can't do it. It isn't working."

His fingers coiled in her hair but he couldn't help her. He may be the catalyst but he needed something to work with and she couldn't. She just _couldn't._

***Shane***

"Well I hope all you jerks are happy." He didn't even need to look around at where Caitlyn was clutching on to Nate to keep the anger in his voice. The hall fell silent as people turned from their mocking conversations back to the stage and took in Shane Grey, Jason Grey and Nate Grey. "I'm sure you're all so satisfied that you've managed to make a girl cry. I'm sure that's why you all came on this camp, because you wanted to make people who weren't _you_ feel bad about themselves."

A girl took a step forwards, looking slightly daunted by the presence of all of Connect Three but determined nonetheless. "So," she opened slowly. "Do _you_ believe her?"

Shane didn't hesitate. "Yes. I believe her." After all, Mitchie believed her. Ele believed her. And, most importantly, Nate believed in her and Nate was family. You don't abandon family.

"You believe that she can breath _magic helium?_"

"Yes."

He spoke confidantly, but in his mind he was now praying that Caitlyn could. If she couldn't now this would be the most embarassing situation he'd _ever_ been in.

"Magic helium which can make guitars work without wires and –" the girl glanced around to check her second fact with a friend before turning back. " – allow people to sing solos in harmony. You think that's possible?"

Shane swallowed uncomfortably. "I don't think it's possible," he replied. "But I believe Caitlyn when she says she can so I suppose impossible things happen. I didn't think it was possible that I would ever get to where I am today but here I am proving myself wrong. So, tov answer all the rest of your questions, I believe Caitlyn."

Jason stepped forwards beside him. "And I believe Caitlyn."

Mitchie and Ele had arrived too and now Ele stepped forwards. "I believe Caitlyn."

Now Mitchie stepped to the front. "Caitlyn is my best friend and when she first told me I didn't believe her either but I do now. I have done for most of the camp. I've _seen_ it with my own eyes."

"If she's telling the truth," someone else yelled. "Why doesn't she prove it?"

Shane pushed Mitchie aside, feeling the anger coming back. "I wouldn't blame her if she doesn't want to prove it to you lot! She told you it doesn't work all the time so you pushed a guitar into her hands, an instrument she can't even play, and told her if she can't do it right now you don't believe her. Is that what friends do?"

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn couldn't help smiling slightly at Shane's words even as she tried to hold back her tears. "Your brother's amazing," she breathed to Nate. "I can't believe he's doing this. He barely knows me."

Nate wrapped his arms closer around her. "I hope you don't like him more than me."

She pushed her hair closer against him. Jason, Shane, Mitchie and Ele were being amazing but Nate was Nate. "I don't like anyone more than you."

***Nate***

Of course, she might not really be saying what he thought she was saying. She might not have thought about it, she was clearly upset and overwhelmed but he was feeling... lighter, than usual. Her hair was soft beneath his fingertips, her body warm against his and this was what he wanted.

"So if you like me best, what would you say if I were to ask you out?" It was like taking a leap with Caitlyn grounding him, keeping him save.

Her voice, when it came, was soft and uncertain. "I would... laugh? Then ask what you thought you were doing."

Nate moved back slightly so he could look into her eyes, so he could reach out and touch her chin. "I'm asking you, Caitlyn Geller, to be my girlfriend because I love you."

There was a moment of shock in her eyes. Then she didn't scream or yell or any of the things Jason said Ele had done. She just smiled, a slight lifting of the corners of her mouth and then said his name in a soft voice, as though she couldn't quite believe it. "Nate..."

From somewhere, there was another yell of 'Prove it!' and Caitlyn was moving away, her hand dropping to his and clutching his fingers even as she turned from him to face the crowd.

***Caitlyn***

"If she doesn't want to prove it to _you_ she doesn't have to!" Shane was shouting but Caitlyn reached out to touch his arm.

"It's okay." She could feel the helium flowing through her from the warmth of Nate's hand and the sight of his lips when he spoke.

_I love you._

It felt like all her dreams had come true and if she had this much magic she owed it to these people. "I'll show them."

Her fingers were still tight in Nate's. She could've asked one of them numerous guitarists on stage to play something but it seemed more fitting to just step forwards, feeling rather than seeing everyone stepping back, and holding Nate's hand tight in hers.

"This song," she opened awkwardly. "It's not mine but... it fits how I'm feeling at the moment. It's by Nate Grey and it's called _There's a Dream._" She felt Nate's hand tighten on hers and if there had been a mike she would have stepped up to it. As it was, she closed her eyes and started to sing.

"_There's a place, neath a rainbow_

_In the shelter of a tree_

_And the only people for miles around_

_Are you and me_

_There's a place, neath a golden sun_

_By a pool of stone, so clear_

_There's no one to stop and stare_

_No one comes near."_

And the harmony fitted itself in, even as her voice was amplified around the room. A second voice singing with her, a voice like hers but also strangely ethereal. The sniggering and murmuring had stopped now and her voice echoed around the whole room.

"_And that's the dream I want to take you to_

_Cause there's nothing in my dreams but spending all of_

_My time with you_

_So hold my hand and we'll see this through_

_We'll see this through."_

And suddenly Nate had stepped up beside her and he sang the second verse, the helium magnifying his incredible voice around the whole hall.

"_There's a place, neath a castle_

_Which stands on a cloud_

_And in this place there is no one_

_But us to be found_

_There's a place, neath the starlight_

_By the deep blue rolling sea_

_And the only people anywhere_

_Are you and me."_

She joined in for the chorus, holding his hand tight and smiling more than she'd ever smiled before. Behind them, someone was playing on the guitar she'd put down earlier and that was echoing out too because helium was pouring from her body in waves.

"_And that's the dream I want to take you to_

_Cause there's nothing in my dreams but spending all of_

_My time with you_

_So hold my hand and we'll see this through_

_We'll see this through."_

They turned slowly so they were facing each other and she could look straight up into Nate's eyes.

"_And I love you," _he sang softly._ "When the sun shines high."_

"_And I love you," _she replied. _"When the moon's in the sky."_

"_And I love you, when you're the one thing I can trust."_

"_But I love you most when you're not 'you' but 'us.'" _She smiled, standing on her toes and leaning up to kiss him, feeling his hand wrap around her neck to pull her closer.

When he eventually moved away she couldn't help smiling at him. "Yes," she replied softly. "I will be your girlfriend. And yes, I love you."

"_And that's the dream I want to take you to_

_Cause there's nothing in my treasure chest but all of_

_My time with you_

_So Take my hand and we'll see this through_

_We'll see this through._

_You and me, me and you."_

There was a pause while the final chord, played by Jason, rang out but Caitlyn just stood there, staring into Nate's eyes, his hands in hers.

"Caitlyn," he said after a moment. "Look at them."

She turned her head slowly to see the crowd, all of whom were standing with both hands in the air looking extremely annoyed. Caitlyn blushed. "Did I...?"

Nate laughed. "I think you need to get a bit more control over this helium thing."

"Did you mean it... when you said you loved me?"

"I always mean everything I say. Though sometimes I'm a jerk."

She pulled him into a hug. "No you're not. Or if you are, you're _my_ jerk."

Nate's arms closed around her and finally she let the magic she'd been holding go to a rush of air from hundreds of arms suddenly dropping and long sighs of relief from the crowd. Then the bustle was just background noise and there was Nate's voice in her ear. "I can live with that."

At that moment Brown stepped forwards from the edge of the room, holding up a single sheet of yellow paper. "I have the line up for final jam," he said, somewhat meekly. "If anyone's interested."

For the first time in camp history, there wasn't a rush.


	20. Chapter 20

_Three songs and a chorus. I spoil you :P_

_Interesting trivia: the last song in this chapter (Camp Pop) was the first Camp Rock related thing I wrote and inspired this entire fic. (:_

_Please read, review and Vote! Only 2 people have so far and 'm sure more people than that are reading this (I hope so anyway...)_

_Only the epilogue to go now. If only 2 people are gonna read my next CR fic I might change fandom. how me ur out there! 9:_

_-Ekkah_

Twenty

***Mitchie***

The end of another summer and, once again, Mitchie was standing at the edge of the Camp stage looking out at the audience. Her mother and father were there, sitting with Caitlyn's parents who had come down just for the evening. Tess was a few feet away in a shimmering costume that seemed to out-shine the spotlights singing a few lines from the song she was singing with Lola, a surprisingly heartfelt song called _Shadow._

"_And I've been living in your shadow_

_Can't you tell, can't you see_

_You want to hold me down at heel_

_But I want to dream._

_I've been standing right behind you_

_But now I'm breaking free_

_I'm not a tiny part of you I'm the _

_Shout out loud_

_Heart of me."_

Mitchie turned from the stage to smile at her. "It sounds good. It's about you and your mom, isn't it?" It was better than last years which had just been begging. This one sounded more grown up, like Tess was ready to let go of her childhood.

She smiled, a surpringly genuine look which lit up her whole face. "Yes. And Lola's singing for her mum. She doesn't talk about it but she's always going to parties where people are asking if she's Mel's daughter. It's not… nice to be known only because of your relationship to someone else."

Mitchie wondered if some day her parents would be known as 'Mitchie's parents.' Even now, anyone important who knew her only knew her as Shane Grey's girlfriend. She hadn't thought of it like that. It wouldn't last though, she would show herself.

She smiled slightly, thinking of Nate's solo tour. After _that_ people would see she was more than just a pop star's fashion accessory.

Tess walked up beside her. "Shouldn't you be practicing? I only just finished with Lola and we're on first."

Mitchie shrugged. "You can only do so much practicing," she said, trying to sound intelligent so she didn't have to confess that she'd lost track of Caitlyn.

_Again,_ provided her mind darkly. Hadn't Nate and Caitlyn spent enough time together when they were convincing each other that they were just friends?

At that moment the back door of the hall slammed open to let both of them rush in, then bend double and start panting. Caitlyn glanced up at the stage, kissed Nate once on the cheek, then grabbed a piece of paper from his hand and ran up to the stage, clambering on it to get into the wings and almost crash into Mitchie.

"Where've you been?" Mitchie demanded, watching Nate sidle around the hall to Brown and mutter what was presumably some kind of apology.

Caitlyn waved the piece of paper. "We finished it. Finally. The Final Jam song." She had to stop talking at that point because Ele had found them.

"Caitlyn!" she said, in as loud a hiss as she could manage. "I need you. I'm on fifth and I don't know how long it'll take. It's a helium thing."

Caitlyn glanced at Mitchie then pushed the page in her hand. "You need to get it to everyone so they know the words. It ended up similar to last year but there are a few changes." She grinned once then ran to Ele leaving Mitchie clutching a page and with, apparently, no time for a last-minute rehearsal.

Brown was already running on stage. A whole summer of prep and _now_ they were in a rush? How did that work? "Hello friends, family and Camp Pop fans!"

Mitchie slipped away into the wings to distribute the page as the cheering started.

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn caught up with Ele a few feet from the back door of the stage. "If you want me to amp your guitar or your voice, I don't need to see it. Nate… well… I thought he was judging but he said he'd be there to help me out." She hadn't had time to think about it at the time, down by the lake finishing the song. Now she thought about it, she wasn't sure if the distance from the wings to the judges desk would be too great for the amount of magic she was going to need.

Ele shook her head. "It's not that. Well, that would help but I need a different sort of magic. It's still kind of music so it should work… I think. Jason said he'd leave it out here." She pushed open the back door and grabbed something that had been leaning up against the wall just outside. "Aha!"

She pulled it back inside and Caitlyn felt her mouth drop open. Nate had _told_ her about Ele and Jason's what he called 'crackpot idea.' They'd disagreed on it's coolness (Caitlyn had thought if it worked it would be awesome, Nate had said it didn't matter because it would never work and what was the point) but Caitlyn was now more certain than ever that Nate was wrong.

"We took off the wheel," Ele explained awkwardly. "Because I couldn't get used to playing with it and we couldn't convince any birds to go in so it's really just an Aquitar at this point."

Caitlyn didn't mention that 'just an Aquitar' was something of an understatement. Ele and Jason really did believe in living all their dreams, didn't they. She reached out slowly to take it from Ele's hands, feeling the weight of the water inside the solid frame. "Wow," she managed, speaking for the first time. There was a small handful of orange fish swimming around and a single silver fish with graceful fins. There was even small plastic weeds and one of the dilapidated castles that always seemed to be in fish tanks. Even the neck of the guitar was made of clear, blue-tinted plastic. "Wow," she repeated.

Ele reached out to take it from her, sliding the guitar strap over her head. Caitlyn noticed for the first time that it was decorated with fishes. Apparently just because they were doing the impossible didn't mean they didn't have to do a neat job of it.

"If I use a loud amp and wires it'll kill the fish," Ele explained. "I just need you to make them deaf and make the guitar loud. Can you do that?"

Caitlyn bent down slightly to eye the fish. Could she do that? Did she have any idea? "Can fish hear usually?" she asked, helplessly aware of her ignorance.

Ele shook her head as though she had no idea. "I don't know." She glanced at her watch just as wild cheering filtered through to them from the stage. "We have four songs worth of time to work this out."

Caitlyn swallowed and pushed up her sleeves. She hadn't changed, checked her keyboard, checked her recordings or done a last minute practice but what did it matter. She wasn't heliuming until Ele (most people had elected to use wires and their own equipment: they had apparently taken notice of the fact that her gift was temperamental after all. A bit late, considering it seemed to be at her call now.)

"Well, we'd better get started then."

***Nate***

Nate folded his arms, leaning back against the wall beside Jason. He wanted to head into the wings and find Caitlyn but he had to stay here because of the judges thing. He had to stand there waiting while Brown went on and on about what a good year it had been. Eventually, he found his point.

"But you don't want to hear about that now!"

_No,_ Nate provided mentally. _We don't. Congratulations._

"It _is_ Final Jam and as such we have the biggest summer competition for young pioneers in the music field in the whole of the state. At the start of the summer we were planning to do a similar approach to last year with the three members of Connect Three." He pointed towards Nate, Jason and Shane as he said this causing a wave of cheering. Nate waved briefly at the crowd, wishing Brown would just hurry up. "Especially seeing as the winner will get a _humoungous_ trophey as well as the chance to record with the entire band."

Another wave of cheering. Couldn't Brown just get on with it? Was he incapable of saying something straight out first time.

"However, many people in the camp came to me with concerns – perfect valid concerns – that the members of the band were all somewhat… involved… with member of the camp which, I was told, could effect the lack of bias in their voting. I was also reminded that Connect Three haven't played as a group since arriving here. I was going to ask them to play tonight but then Nate gave me a better idea."

Nate couldn't help smiling very slightly.

"Everyone, every single person at camp this year will receive two completely free tickets to Nate Grey's sold out, state-wide solo tour: _Coming home!"_

There was a moment of stunned silence before the cheering started. People were stamping their feet, standing up, whooping and applauding.

Shane stood for a moment with his mouth open then let out a disbelieving laugh and grabbed Nate, pulling him into a headlock in a brotherly way. "You didn't tell me about _this_."

Nate pulled himself out, still smiling as he looked around the crowd. The girls that he had made cry, everyone he'd snubbed was standing up, cheering and smiling. It was probably the best apology he could have made.

The hysterics lasted at least five minutes before Brown managed to get everyone calmed down. "Yes, yes, it's all very exciting. Still, it leaves us three judges short so I'm pleased to be able to intrudce our three new onces, sourced from all around the camp. Firstly, straight from touring across America, Margaret Dupree!"

The doors at the back of the hall burst open and, to another wave of applause, Peggy ran in, grinning around at everyone. Her eye met Nate's and she waved.

In the spirit of friendship, he waved back as she hugged Brown and made her way to the judges desk.

"Our second judge agreed to come on very short notice and has put all her other commitments on hold just for this occasion. It's T.J. Tyler!"

The cheers, if possible, were even louder as the door opened again and the tall blonde woman walked sedately in, kissed Brown politely on the cheek, and took the seat beside Peggy.

"And our third and final judge is someone I hope our resident band, at least, will recognise. An agent from a real live music industry with such bands as Connect Three, The Alibi and Elegance. I'd like to present: Celia Firtree."

Nate laughed, clapping as loud as everyone else as the doors opened and Celia stepped in, curtseying elegantly to the screaming fans. Celia shook hands with Brown, before taking the third seat.

"So," Brown continued. "We have our judges, we have our prizes, we have our crowd. All that's left is the performances so without further ado I'd like to present Tess Tyler and Lola Armenio performing _Shadow._

When the music started, Nate made his excuses to Shane and Jason and slipped out of the building, heading around to the side door to the wings.

***Caitlyn***

"Okay," Caitlyn said slowly, stepping back. "I think that's done." It looked the same as before, but she could feel it throbbing with energy. She needed to find Nate before her and Mitchie's performance to stock up on helium energy. They'd gone outside to sort it, so they could play without anyone hearing, and now they pushed open the door to head in again.

At that moment Ella stepped around the corridor and her eyes fell on them. "Ele, where have you _been?_" she grabbed Ele's arm, barely noticing Caitlyn or the guitar. "Caitlyn and Nate's dancer group are just going on. You should be in the wings, _waiting._"

Ella seemed to be enjoying her role as stage manager. Unsure of what else to do, Caitlyn followed the two of them until she bumped into Nate.

"What are you doing here?" was the first thing she asked, as Ella and Ele dissapeared into the distance. "I mean, shouldn't you be judging?"

"Where've you been the last half hour?"

Half an hour? Caitlyn swore very quietly. There went all her hopes for a last minute practice with Mitchie. She wanted to see the dancers and Ele's performance. After that there was just one more group before she had to perform. "Elsewhere," she replied, grabbing Nate's hand as she headed back to the wings of the stage. "What happened?"

"Apparently they thought Jason, Shane and I would be biased. Something to do with all of us dating campers. They've got Margaret, Tess' mom and our agent to do it instead."

Caitlyn turned slightly in surprise. "Peggy's here? I'll have to go say hi later."

***Nate***

Mitchie and Shane were in the wings already, watching the dancers who were already on the first chorus. The routine was impressive, something Nate knew he could never have come up with. Lucky they'd put at least _some_ decent dancers in the dance class.

"You taught them all that?" Shane asked, looking around at him.

Nate grinned. "I have many talents." He wrapped his arms around Caitlyn, listening to his voice echoing out around them.

Caitlyn leant into him. "Do you have any secrets left?" she asked, as the chorus faded into music and the dancers started doing crazy things like flips.

"Not from you, not anymore. I think we found out all the secrets in this camp, didn't we? How many surprises can one camp hold?"

Caitlyn smiled secretively, holding his hand tight in hers. "I don't know, but Ele still might surprise you."

Nate smiled back. "Well, she never fails to. Has she written some kind of Ode to the electric house of bird that I should know about?"

***Jason***

Jason felt his excitement building from the moment the dancers struck their final pose. The dancing had been good, sure, especially with Nate's song. But he heard his brother sing all the time.

"Thank you, thank you, Silent Steps. Next up is a solo performer from England. This is her first time at camp but her enthusiasm and inability to stop smiling have made her an instant hit. She's touring with Nate Grey later in the year and – if they ever made it official – dating Jason Grey. So it gives me great pleasure to present Ele Martin, powered by Caitlyn Geller and magic helium, playing a song called _Do the Impossible._

There was a round of cheering and Ele walked onto the stage, the Aquitar resplendant in her hands. She walked to the middle and looked out. For a moment, her face was a mask of terror then she met Jason's eyes and it relaxed into a smile.

"Hello Camp Pop!" she called, punching the air enthusiastically. Her voice was amplified around the room but the absence of a mike meant there must be helium involved somewhere. "Now, before the start of this camp we believed a lot of things weren't possible. We thought we would just have get used to the fact that Nate was a jerk and always will be a jerk. We thought Mitchie and Shane would fall apart because Shane can't keep a girlfriend for more than three tabloid from covers. But most of all we believed, we truely believed that it was impossible – Impossible! – to keep animals in a stage guitar.

"The first two have been proved wrong and now, thanks to the many wonderful people in the world and the magical Caitlyn Geller I give you –" she lifted the Aquitar in both hands. " – the Electric House of Bird, Fish and Hamster also known as the Aquitar!"

And she struck a chord, the fish swam and everybody was cheering. Jason hugged himself, wishing he could run up and hug Ele too because she was amazing and anyone who wasn't her would just have said this was impossible but there she was playing a fish tank.

"_You all told us,_" she sang and her voice as amplified loud enough to echo over the cheering. _"That it couldn't be done,_

_But we tried and we hoped and we dreamed_

_You gave up before you'd even begun_

_But see I'm showing you now, that you can always succeed_

_Cause you can make_

_All your dreams come true_

_See; if you believe_

_You'll make it through_

_And anything is possible if you try_

_With a high enough jump you'll reach the sky_

_You can just start flying, don't ask why_

_And the people you meet along the way_

_Are the ones who make it worth the wait_

_You all laughed, didn't hide your scorn_

_But we smiled and we planned and we flew_

_You didn't care enough to see our hopes born_

_But I can show you now, how dreams can come true_

_Cause you can bring_

_All your dreams alive_

_If you believe_

_You're sure to arrive_

_And anything is possible if you try_

_With a high enough jump you'll reach the sky_

_You can just start flying, don't ask why_

_And the people you meet along the way_

_Are the ones who make it worth the wait."_

She met Jason's eyes for the last line and smiled at him as she went into the guitar solo they'd worked out together, her fingers moving easily across the strings as the fish moved uninterrupted, apparently ignorant of their unusual location.

"_And anything is possible if you try_

_With a high enough jump you'll reach the sky_

_You can just start flying, don't ask why_

_And the people you meet along the way_

_Are the ones who make it worth the wait_

_Don't stop, keep on before it's too late_

_Cause any of your dreams_

_I'm telling you_

_You can create."_

She let her hand drop from the instrument finally to punch the air. "Live dreams, love dreams!" Her eyes met Jason's and they were full of laughter. "We pop!"

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn had to let go of Nate to hug Ele when she returned to the wings. "That was _awesome,_ El!"

Ele couldn't seem to stop her hands trembling but she was smiling. "I couldn't have done it without you, Cait. You and your helium or whatever. Lucky it didn't stop, hey."

Caitlyn glanced around to where Nate was watching them – to where Nate, her _boyfriend_, was watching them with a small smile on his face. "I don't think it could now," she confessed. "Not if I wanted it to work."

Mitchie moved over to them, hugging Ele herself. "I don't know how we're going to follow that," she confessed with a smile as the music of the band between them started from the stage area. Nate stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around Caitlyn again.

Ele moved away from Mitchie to look at him, biting her lip very slightly as though she was nervous. "Well, Nate. What did you think?" Her tone suggested that Nate's opinion was actually important to her so Caitlyn elbowed him lightly in the ribs as a warning to be nice.

Nate shrugged, poking Caitlyn in retaliation. "I think you have a worrying obsession with creating things that everyone else would think were crazy." Then he smiled. "And I think it's really cool, and you can sing well and you play guitar almost as well as me." He laughed as Ele hit him and released Caitlyn so he could give her a hug. "Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to get you out of my life now."

He moved away and turned to Caitlyn again, bending down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll take Ele out to the audience to meet her true love and find a good place to watch you. Meet you back here after your performance?"

Caitlyn nodded once and Nate and Ele left the wings. She turned to Mitchie. "Okay, _now_ I'm getting butterflies. Do you think this will be okay?"

"I think it'll be awesome." She glanced away to where the others had disappeared. "You and Nate, hey. And it's serious? Really serious?"

Caitlyn glanced at her. "You and Shane, hey. It's serious?"

Mitchie laughed. "That's me told, I suppose. Well, if you're happy then I'm happy for you." She folded her arms, looking around. "Remember when we were here last year? We were terrified and uncertain and a million other things. This year feels so different."

Caitlyn smiled at her, reaching out to take her hand. "I remember us standing together as best friends. That hasn't changed."

"And it won't."

"It won't."

***Nate***

"Presenting two girls who stormed the camp last year with _This is Me_. Yes, Mitchie Torres and Caitlyn Geller have returned with what I'm sure will be another incredible performance as they play a song called _Together."_

On either side Ele, Jason and Shane were cheering loudly but Nate just clapped, watching with a small smile as Mitchie and Caitlyn stepped onto the stage, Mitchie carrying a guitar and Caitlyn walking quickly over to the keyboard.

Nate had never really thought of himself as the kind of guy who fell in love, at the start of camp nothing had been further from his mind but now he felt different. Lighter. It felt like whenever he was holding her the rest of the world could do anything and he wouldn't care.

Mitchie stepped up to the front of the stage. "Hello Camp Rock. I'm Mitchie, this is Caitlyn my best friend. The song we're going to sing... it's about what we've been through this year and what we've found. I know there's been bad times and we've said things we didn't mean but I know neither of us would go back on this for anything." She struck a chord experimentally. "So this song's called _Together_ and it goes out to all the Grey brothers and Ele for being the best friends we could ever have hoped for. Thank you."

Then she started playing and there was synthesized beat from somewhere and caitlyn was playing the piano with the same skill as she had in the practice hut when they'd first played together.

"_When I met you," _Mitchie started._ "I liked you_

_I thought a friend like you would help me through."_

"_When I saw you," _Caitlyn sang. _"Thought I knew you_

_And you seemed the type to know me too."_

Then they came in together, in a purely natural harmony. "_And I know we had problems_

_And I know we made mistakes_

_And I know last year we pulled through_

_For each other sake._

_But now I know_

_What it's like to lose a friend._

_And what it's like_

_To find them again._

_You saw us break up_

_Couldn't make up_

_Wanted to be special_

_Not just one of a pair._

_Couldn't trust_

_What was in front of us."_

"_And we fell in love," _Mitchie sang.

"_Fell in love," _Caitlyn echoed.

"_But we stayed together_

_Friends forever."_

Then Caitlyn was playing a keyboard solo and Mitchie wondered over to her and they were both smiling and Nate felt Jason's hand creep into his and realized he knew exactly the kind of friendship they were talking about. The kind that was close and important.

"_And now I know_

_What it's like to have a friend._

_Who'll stand by you_

_Right up to the end._

_You saw us __break up_

_Couldn't make up_

_Wanted to be special_

_Not just one of a pair._

_Couldn't trust_

_What was in front of us._

_And we fell in love_

_But we stayed together_

_We had a fight_

_But we stayed together_

_We made mistakes_

_But we stuck together_

_All as one and_

_All forever."_

Now, Nate cheered. He cheered and then he half-ran with Shane up to the wings where he could pull Caitlyn close against him and they ran off together out the back door.

***Shane***

"It's a shame Nate's missing his song," Jason remarked, as they stood at the side of the stage ready to perform the new _Camp Pop._ "Do you think I should call him?"

Shane glanced up from where he had been busy wishing Mitchie luck and looked around quickly to see if Caitlyn was nearby. She wasn't. "No," he replied thoughtfully. "No, I expect Nate's right where he wants to be."

***Caitlyn***

Caitlyn tapped rhythms idly on the arm wrapped around her, opening her eyes so she could see the play of moonlight on the water of the lake. "I think you were supposed to be there for the prize giving," she remarked, though him getting up wasn't something she really wanted to happen.

Nate shifted slightly behind her. "I'm sure they'll get on fine without me."

"What if I want to know who won?"

He laughed, kissing her cheek because he was beside and behind her and thus couldn't reach her lips. "I won, I won _everything._" He hugged her tight briefly. "I can only assume that's true because otherwise I wouldn't have you here with me. Can't imagine why you would want to be with me unless you had to be."

Caitlyn laughed. "Maybe because, against all odds, I like you."

"Maybe."

"Or maybe because I love you."

"Well, no way am I letting you go now you've said that. You're doomed, doomed to a life trailing around after me. This tour won't be the last, you know. Not by any means."

She smiled, closing her eyes slightly in Nate's arms. "I can live with that."

Nate pushed her up very slightly. "If we go now, we might be able to catch the song at least. Plus, I think they'll all be somewhat annoyed since you promised them helium for the final number and then ran away with your boyfriend."

She smiled wider, letting him pull her up and wrap an arm around her waist. "I like that word."

"What, helium?"

"Boyfriend."

Then he kissed her on the beach by the lake and somewhere people were looking for them but right at that moment it didn't matter. Right at that moment, nothing mattered.

***Shane***

"_Cause we pop! We pop! We pop corn!_

_We pop! We pop corn!_

_As you are, come_

_We have helium!_

_The magic's in our pocket and we share it._

_You can feel those tunes,_

_Run through your balloons._

_Heart's racing fast,_

_You're poppin, (bang bang)!_

_All that you need is the music to take you..._

_With dreams we can make it,_

_So all of you best dream on!_

_We got our hands stuck in the air, we scream!_

_And wait for the helium,_

_To run out of steam._

_And we pop!_

_We pop!_

_We pop, We pop corn!_

_Nobody in the world's gonna bring us down._

_Cause our helium's magic,_

_And so is our sound._

_Cause we pop!_

_We pop, We pop corn!_

_(We pop! We pop, We pop corn!)_

_(We pop! We pop, We pop corn!)_

_Yeah, Nobody in the world's gonna bring us down._

_Cause our helium's magic,_

_And so is our sound._

_(We go!)_

_Cause we pop!_

_We pop!_

_We pop, We pop corn!_

_We got our hands stuck in the air, we scream!_

_And wait for the helium,_

_To run out of steam._

_Cause we pop!_

_We pop!_

_We pop, We pop corn!_

_Nobody in the world's gonna bring us down._

_Cause our helium's magic,_

_And so is our sound._

_(Here we go!)_

_Cause we pop!_

_We pop!_

_We pop, We pop corn!_

_(We pop, We pop, We pop corn!)_

_We pop!!_

_(We pop.)_

_Popcorn!!"_

***Nate***

There was no doubt about it. It was an awesome song. And Brown's face when he heard what everyone was singing was priceless, though it also made Nate glad he was hiding with Caitlyn at the back of the hall rather than standing on stage in the open with everyone else.

Of course, there were other benefits to hiding in the corner with Caitlyn.

"I'm glad they locked you up with me," he admitted softly. "And I'm glad I came. Even if I completely failed to get a tan."

She laughed and leant forward to kiss him. "I'm glad for everything. Even if I didn't like it at the time, it was all worth it to get us here." She glanced at the stage. "I think Brown's a little annoyed at you."

Nate smiled, pulling a stack of chairs out to hide them from view. "Some things never change."

* * *


	21. Epilogue

_And there it was. Done. _

_Never thought that would happen... tbh. (: Oh well. This fic is dedicated to Ele who convinced me to do it, all the friends who don't know about it (but are awesome anyway), all the reviewers who's stuck with it (you know who you are, I love you all (but in a good way (: )._

_**Disclaimer:** Well... yeah... if I owned Camp Rock I think I would... okay, I'm not fooling anybody if I owned it I would do exaclty what i just did I would just have more money :P for the record, i don't own it._

_The epilogue isn't all that important really, it's just there to put an ending on the whole thing and to show that i did plan right through to the end from the very beginning. Anyone who notices where in the fic the first song is from gets an ecookie (:_

_Uhm, thanks for reading. Thanks even more for reviewing and thanks times a million for going on my profile page and voting. The poll will close next week and, hopefully, I'll post the first chapter of whatever fic wins. _

_So, yeah, Rock on (or pop corn, whichever floats your boat)_

_Camp Pop!_

_-Ekkah_

Epilogue

**Nate Grey solo tour: 'Coming Home' line up:**

Support Acts:

Margaret Dupree: _Becoming Me_

Ele Martin and Jason Grey: _Do The Impossible_

Mitchie Torres and Shane Grey: _This is Me_

Mitchie Torres and Caityn Geller:_ Together_

Tess Tyler and Lola Armenio: _Shadow_

Concert:

_Back to Back_

_Goodnight_

_Scared to Sing_

_Why Should I?_

_Fading Away_

_Disconnected_

_Coming Home_

_It's My World_

_Just Friends_

_Heartbroken_

_There's a Dream_

Encores:

_Shout It!_

_In Love_

_Lights Out Over New York City_

Finale: 

Connect 3: _In This Together_

Nate took a few deep breaths, looking around at the half-circle of people standing watching him. They were backstage, Tess and Lola had just finished their performance and the crowd were screaming for Nate Grey. Not for Connect 3, for him. He hadn't even stepped onto the stage and he was already starting to realize what he'd been missing. So a few people had been more into his fame than him, they weren't the majority.

Shane and Jason were first, standing side by side. They'd originally planned to watch the show from the auditorium but that had proved impossible due to the crowd of over-enthusiastic fangirls out there. Shane had even admitted to realizing that Nate may have had a point when he got scared of them.

Still, they were here and they were travelling in the tour buses and between gigs they were writing songs for a new album and everything was coming together.

Next in the circle was his new band: Ele on bass, Mitchie on backing guitar and Andy on drums. Three people he hadn't known at the start of the summer and who now he was trusting everything to because they were amazing and they were proof that there were brilliant people in the world.

And last but not least, his girlfriend. The one he never thought he'd find in a million years: the girl who was perfect for him. He met her eyes now and she smiled.

"Okay, guys. Let's rock!"

Everyone cheered and the band ran out on stage to grab their instruments, Jason and Shane mumbling something about going away for a moment which meant they were tactfully giving Nate and Caitlyn some privacy.

"Are you sure you don't want to plug your guitar in too?" she asked uncomfortably. "I mean… just in case."

Nate glanced down at the instrument in his hands. They were getting another two Aquitars made, one a bass, but until then he was using his own, dark grey electric guitar with the _Do Not Touch_ stickers he'd adorned it with when he was twelve. "I trust you," he replied simply.

"Are you sure?"

"I trust you." He leant forwards to kiss her gently. "And I love you and that's all that matters."

She smiled, turning faintly red in the dim lights. "Then go for it."

He pulled her into a hug then slung the guitar strap over his head and ran out onto the stage to a wall of sound. If there had been a microphone he would've walked up to it but without that anchor he had to just head to the middle of the stage, passing Mitchie on the way who gave him a reassuring smile.

The lack of a mike was starting to put him off. Maybe he shoulder get some wires, maybe he should get some completely infallible wires which wouldn't fail and then he'd be fine and then…

He was panicking. He was supposed to be over this but the crowd was huge and he felt ill, like he was back on that night and everyone was swarming forwards and he was turning his head to catch the eye of the tech guys.

His eyes met Caitlyn's and suddenly all the fear was gone. All the fear was gone because there was a small, brown-haired girl who was magical and who he trusted more than anything. Because he loved her.

"Hello L.A!" he shouted, and was greeted by another surging cheer. "I'm Nate Grey. This is my band: Ele Martin, Andy Hunt and Mitchie Torres. I haven't been playing for a while, as you know, but I'm back now because there's magic in the world and you have to believe in it." He struck a few chords and they rang out as though he was connected to every amp in the stadium. "I've got some awesome songs lined up for you this evening, most of them new and unheard so lucky you." He swallowed the usual concert nerves and smiled down at the crowd. "I wrote this song near the start of Camp Rock, at a time when it felt like the whole world was against me. At the time I didn't know who it was written for, but now I do. This song goes out to Caitlyn Geller and it's called _Back to Back."_ He glanced around at the band and they started playing.

"_Sometimes it feels, like the world is out to get you._

_Sometimes it feels, like all paths lead to the same dead end._

_Sometimes it feels, like the world just has no clue._

_We close our eyes, we dream and pretend."_

He couldn't resist a quick glance into the wings at Caitlyn, who was standing with her mouth slightly open in surprise. "I know that song."

It must've been the helium because he could hear her words in his ear as though she was right beside him. She knew the song? How?

Magic... he remembered sitting in the hut and singing half the words because it felt like someone else was singing them with him and his guitar had been electric but it had sounded incredible and indefinable and...

Maybe he'd been the catalyst all along.

"_Sometimes we hope, and sometimes we dream_

_That nothing in this world, is quite as it seems._

_Sometimes we cry, and sometimes we fall_

_But a friend will take our hand to see us_

_Through it all_

'_Cause when the world comes hunting for you_

_You don't want to feel alone_

_Stand back to back with me _

_And I swear we'll make it home._

_When the world is getting older_

_And leaving you behind_

_Stand with me_

_I swear I'll never leave your side._

_Sometimes you think that nobody wants to know you_

_Sometimes you think that there's no way to live a dream_

_Sometimes you think all those happy songs can't be true_

_But nothing ever is, quite what it seems_

_Sometimes we wish, and sometimes we pray_

_That the sun will rise and bring a bright new day_

_Sometimes we cry and sometimes we fall_

_But love will take our hand and see us_

_Through it all_

'_Cause when the world comes hunting for you_

_You don't want to feel alone_

_Stand back to back with me _

_And I swear we'll make it home._

_When the world is getting older_

_And leaving you behind_

_Stand with me_

_I swear I'll never leave your side._

_I swear I'll always want to hold you_

_Don't you know I'll never leave you_

_Living just to say I love you, _

_Love you_

_I pray you'll always want to be with me_

_Pray you mean it when you say you love me_

_Pray the future has a life in store for_

_You and me_

'_Cause when the world comes hunting for you_

_You know you're not alone_

_Stand back to back with me _

_And I swear we'll make it home._

_When the world is getting older_

_And leaving you behind_

_Stand with me_

_I swear I'll never leave your side._

_Swear I'll love you until the end of time."_

He ran off stage suddenly and grabbed Caitlyn, pulling her out into the spotlight with him. "This is Caitlyn Geller," he announced to the audience, as the band started up the next song behind him. "She's my girlfriend and my best friend and I love her." And he kissed her in front of everyone to thunderous applause and cheers and whistles and when he moved away she was smiling like she never wanted to stop.

"_And here we are," _he sang, staring into her eyes and holding her close.

"_Riding off into the sunset,_

_With a happily ever after_

_To see us on our way_

_Fade to black_

_Show the credits_

_And everybody's leaving_

_It's the end_

_But the end_

_Is just the start of a brand new d__ay."_

* * *


End file.
